White Ice
by Kimihaine
Summary: Rukia and Hitsugaya both lost their oldest friend during the winter war, and now they're stuck together as captain and lieutenant. Can love bloom from this unlikely pair as they face their worst fear? please review! No IchiHime or HitsuHina!
1. Chapter 1 White Feather

* * *

A/N: This is my very first fanfiction ever, so if there's anything i can improve, please tell me.

i love the HitsuRuki pair, so i hope this story lives up to the expection of all HitsuRuki fans out there, i joined the army.

I Do Not own Bleach, dreams about it a lot tho.

* * *

It was just like any Sunday morning, the soul society was still asleep in its early hours. But the nice weather that always hangs over soul society was now replaced by an odd stormy sky. Snow was blowing like knifes all around; most people were curing next to the fireplace, except one Rukia Kuchiki.

Rukia, with her ice zanpaktou, was not afraid of the cold, she loved it, and so even though she knew the gloomy weather could only have been caused by the young captain of tenth division and his bad mood, she enjoyed herself by dancing in the snow. She found herself loosening up, forgetting the winter war and the pain that happened just a few days ago.

Rukia never realized the pair of green eyes that was watching her, with all of soul society hiding indoors, Rukia was quite noticeable. Hitsugaya, however, just sighed and settled down on a rock not far from Rukia, lost in though. He didn't notice Rukia had stopped dancing until her shadow had intruded on his line of sight.

"Captain Hitsugaya? Sir?" Rukia searched the young captain's face with her violet orbs.

"What do you want, Kuchiki?" Hitsugaya snapped at her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, there is nothing wrong with me!" Hitsugaya snapped again.

"Um, sir, the weather sorta gives you away. Anything I can help you with?" Rukia smiled again, earning a scowl from Hitsugaya.

"How do you like your best, and only friend died by your hand? The friend you grew up with, the one you loved?" Hitsugaya snapped, surprising even himself at this confession, but Rukia just smiled a little sadly.

"Trust me, I do. I killed Lt. Kaien with my own sword, which he actually thanked me for. And Renji, we grew up together too, he blocked a knife for me, when Aizen was taking a stab at me…" her voice trailed off, but Hitsugaya's head snapped upward, suddenly remembering the story of the girl before him.

It was true, the story concerning lieutenant Kaien's death was known to him, thanks to his gossipy lieutenant. Now that he thought back to the war a couple of days ago, the lieutenant of sixth division's name was on the death list. He didn't know how he had died, with Aizen's defeat and the large amount of damage his espadas had done.

"Renji, he was a true warrior." The young captain stopped for a minute, the wind seems to die down a little, but the snow still poured on them. He turned to look at Rukia, and for the first time, he noticed she wasn't wearing her shinigami outfit, but a tank top, short black skirt and combat boots. It was an outfit from the human world; Hitsugaya wondered why she was wearing it.

"Aren't you cold? The entire soul society is hiding behind closed doors, and you're wearing human's cloth."

Rukia just smiled, "I'm an ice zanpaktou too, sir, Sode no Shirayuki. My shinigami uniforms all have cuts and blood on them; this is all I got at the moment."

Hitsugaya fell silent again, but he had temperately forgotten about Hinamori, he thought about Rukia, he had been impressed by her. And he was sure that she had the second strongest ice zanpaktou in soul society. It was really a shame Byakuya wouldn't let his precious little sister join the seated officers. Hitsugaya thought back to the second conversion the two captains had, it was right after Hitsugaya's promotion, the stern captain of sixth division had seek him out.

* * *

"_Hitsugaya-Taicho," the man had caught him as he was about to leave his office for the first day, "May we talk?"_

"_Yeah, come on in." Hitsugaya was a little scared of Byakuya then, his cold reputation was quite famous._

"_I'll get straight to the point; you know I have a younger sister? Rukia Kuchiki?" Hitsugaya nodded, he had heard about the girl from all sources, a very beautiful noble girl with the most beautiful ice zanpaktou. _

"_Exempt her from any seated position, please." The noble had added the last word as an after thought. _

_Hitsugaya had stared, but he quickly recovered and promised the head of Kuchiki clan he will not promote her into his squad. "I heard she also has an ice zanpaktou, the most beautiful, actually, I would love to meet her sometimes."_

"_Yes, it is very beautiful. Thank you." and with that, the older captain had give a slight bow, and shunpoed out of his office._

_A moment later, his new lieutenant had came in blowing a bubble gum, she looked behind her, then back at her captain, before popping her gum and asked._

"_You did promise you wouldn't promote Rukia, right?"_

"_Wha- how did you know?"_

"_Captain Kuchiki gives a little talk about his sister to all the captains and vice-captains. He may not look it, but he's very protective of his baby sister, I don't think she even realize it herself. He went though all kinds of trouble to keep her out of a seated position to keep her safe. She's good too, good enough to be at least a fifth seat when she came out of the academy. But thanks to the over protective big bro she's got, she's still unseated." Matsumoto said, popping her gum again._

_Hitsugaya could do nothing but stare, this was a different story from the legendary Byakuya he had heard about._

_Matsumoto, seeing his reaction, chuckled. "Yeah, he's very different from what he's built himself to be. Rukia's actually scared of him, poor Byakuya, captain Kenpachi once tried to pick a fight with Byakuya by threatening Rukia, he got a little more then he asked for, Byakuya and Ukitake both jumped at him._

_That was about the only time I ever seen Byakuya show any type of emotion, man, was he mad. Not blaming him, Rukia is so adorable; her ice zanpaktou is also very beautiful. Oh, you two will make a great couple…"_

_That had earned her the very first vein popping and snapping from her new captain. Who quickly her a stack of paperwork to fill out, only to return that evening to find the whole stack piled neatly just like he handed it to her, and not a page turned._

* * *

"Captain? Captain Hitsugaya?!" Rukia waved her hand up and down Hitsugaya's face, he jerked out of his little trip down the memory lane.

"I was wondering, could you stop the wind, but make it snow harder?" Rukia asked, blinking her huge, round eyes.

"An ice zanpaktou…" Hitsugaya blinked, "Kuchiki, train with me." and with that, he quickly pulled his zanpaktou out of his back, swung it towards the girl, who quickly jumped out of the way, surprised, but eager to practice with the strongest ice type zanpaktou, she pulled her sword out; and with a metal's 'clang', their practice began.

Rukia wasn't the least bit surprised when she was quickly overpowered by the young captain, so she used every measure she could to stand on her two feet.

"Way of Destruction, #54, Abolishing Flames!" Rukia cried, sending a blast of energy toward the white haired boy, who stepped aside to avoid it. Allowing Rukia to avoid what would have been a fatal thrust.

As this unexpected training session wore on, Hitsugaya was again and again surprised by her abilities. Rukia was at least a third seat or a lieutenant; she skipped most of her kido's incantations, she obtained all seven of her shikai's dances. Although truthfully she still wasn't very skilled at the last four; as she had only got them a few days ago.

Rukia, however, was a little scared of Hitsugaya. True, she was still on her feet, but Hitsugaya had only just called out his shikai, she didn't even want to know how powerful his bankai is. But as Rukia is still Rukia, she managed to hide her expression behind a calm mask that mirrored Hitsugaya's; she called out all seven of her dances again and again, trying to remain graceful to match her famously beautiful zanpaktou.

After just ten minutes, Rukia was forced to call on her fifth dance, white sphere, again and again. White sphere creates a bubble like ice sphere around Rukia, blocking Hitsugaya's ice attack. This annoyed Hitsugaya very much as his attacks would only strengthen the ice sphere instead of shattering.

It was half an hour later, Hitsugaya still only with shikai, and a worn out Rukia was finally pinned to the ground. Both of them gasped, all around them, ice and snow was piled so high some trees were entirely buried.

"Thanks, Kuchiki, I needed to take my mind off things for a while. And I'm sorry… about Renji, he was a fine warrior." Hitsugaya gives Rukia a tiny smile, sheathed his sword, and walked away. But before he could take more then a few steps, a hell butterfly landed on the tip of his zanpaktou's hilt.

Stretching his finger, the hell butterfly landed on his finger, Hitsugaya listened quietly for a few seconds, before his scowled and took off, leaving Rukia dancing in the snow again. But this time, the wind had died down, but the snow was still pouring down.

* * *

Hitsugaya got into 4th division captain's office with a scowl firmly set in place. His mood wasn't improved with Matsumoto suffocating him with her _things_ as a greeting either.

"Captain! I've been looking for you all over! Aren't you excited? Today will be a great day. Captain General has all the paper work halted for one hour just for this…"

But Hitsugaya wasn't listening anymore, "therapy session? For all seated officer?" his scowl hadn't left his face, but as he eyed all the other captains in the room, he knew he had to face it. Even captain Kuchiki wasn't protesting against this, and Hitsugaya was distracted for a second wondering who he'll confess his feelings to.

"Shiro Chan, calm down. We all have to go though this, especially you. The complains about this awful weather is taking up a lot of paper work, you know." Ukitake said with a heavy sigh.

"Not my fault, why is it every time it's snowing, you blame me?" Hitsugaya pouted, but got a glare from half the captains assembled in the small office.

"You're the only one capable of making it snow in this place. Now, about those therapy sessions, it's an order for all seated officers. As most deaths are seated officers during the war. You need to pick a partner yourself, and if you can't, we'll do it for you." Unohana said matter-of-fact-ly.

Hitsugaya looked around, the only few people left without a partner were all horrible. Byakuya, Kenpachi, Mayuri, Ukitake, and Hanataro; Feeling sicker then he started with, he looked around for his lieutenant, who had disappeared then. All of the remaining partner less men looked at him pointy; apparently didn't exactly want to be the partner of any of their companions. Poor Hanataro looked like he was about to faint.

Just then, the door opened with a squeak, three pair of legs was behind piles of really high paper stacks. Balancing them, the three pairs of legs gingerly set the piles down on Unohana's desk, turning around; Hitsugaya recognized them as the two third-seat officers of thirteen divisions, and one Rukia Kuchiki.

The three of them bowed to the captains, Rukia smiled at Hanataro, and the three of them turned to leave. Desperate, Hitsugaya tapped Rukia on the shoulder, she turned around, and blinking as Hitsugaya turned towards the other captains.

"I'll take Rukia Kuchiki as my partner. She's unseated, but lost as many friends as any seated officers. So captain Ukitake, may she be excused for an hour of work every day until this thing is over with?"

Byakuya was furious, he had hoped Hitsugaya and his cold attitude would spare him of any talking; having his sister hanging around another guy was also not his ideal of fun. But he kept a calm mask, careful not to make eye contact with Rukia that might scare her into defying the younger captain.

"Fine," Ukitake sighed, and tugged at Hanataro's sleeve, "come on, we'll be partners." The four of them marched out of the room, or rather, Ukitake and Hitsugaya marched Rukia and Hanataro out of the room. Leaving the three very angry captains inside.

* * *

It was the end of the day, Hitsugaya and Rukia was sitting across from each other in one of fourth division's sick rooms. Hitsugaya was scowling at the sight of the room, he didn't want to think he was 'sick'; but he felt since he had dragged Rukia into this, they might as well make some progress instead of just sitting there, wasting his time.

"I always admired Hinamori," Rukia said out of nowhere, Hitsugaya looked up. "She was a kido master, and the only thing I was good at was kido. I heard she could fire kido from the eighties without incantation."

"Yeah, she was very good. She worked hard on her kido, for Aizen." Hitsugaya spat out the last word, Rukia just raised her eyebrows.

"So stop blaming yourself! Its Aizen's fault to begin with, who would have though, one of the kindest captains, would betray us like that?" Rukia sighed.

"I should have kept a closer eye on her. She was my friend, and…" to Hitsugaya's great surprise, he choked on his words.

Rukia opened the back window, she gestured toward the forest right outside it, "Let's go somewhere more private, shall we?"

Hitsugaya got up, knowing he have no way out of this, jumped out of the window with Rukia closely behind him. They ran though the forest, and found a quite beautiful clearing that was covered thick in snow. Rukia brushed some snow off a rock and they sat on it. Thanks to their zanpaktou's abilities, they weren't shivering like the rest of soul society.

"Renji was friends with Momo, wasn't he? I heard from Momo they were both at the academy, they were a group, along with Kira."

"Yep, they were all friends with each other. Aizen always wanted them, but apparently, Renji was too 'rebellious' he sent him to eleventh division instead."

"I hate it when people call me Shiro chan, but I actually liked it when Momo called me that. But I hated it when she petted my head and treat me like a baby, or draw attention to the fact she's taller then me."

"I hated that about Renji too. I keep telling him I'm petite, but he always calls me a midget. It's so annoying, the only soul reaper who's shorter then me is Lt. Yachiru. Even you're taller then me!" Rukia whined.

"I am?" Hitsugaya stood up so fast he nearly lost his balance; he pulled Rukia to her feet. And to his great pleasure, he discovered the second person shorter then him.

"Yes sit. You had quite a growth sprout since we were both sent to the human world. I haven't grown an inch in the last twenty years!"

"Oh, don't worry about it. You're like twenty years younger then me!" seeing Rukia's widened eyes, he waved a hand. "I know, I know. People are so used to me being young they don't realize I'm not that young. This is why I keep telling them I don't need candy to keep me happy."

Rukia didn't respond at this, but blushed slight. Somehow it tipped Hitsugaya off. "Wait, you still need candy to keep you happy?"

"Not when I'm really mad, but a chappy doll or candy always worked for most people. You know, somehow Renji never realized that. Ichigo was the first to discover it. I love it when people give me candy…" Rukia trailed off, remembering all the candy she got from her friends, especially Ichigo.

Hitsugaya nearly fainted, if Rukia was in thirteenth division, why couldn't her captain give all those candy to her instead? He was taller, older, and higher ranking then Rukia, but somehow he was the one who always got the unwanted candy.

"Why can't Ukitake just give all the candy to you? Why do I have to suffer from his 'fatherly affections'?" Hitsugaya scowled.

"You're the captain, with white hair like him." Rukia said in a casual tone, "Besides, you're the youngest captain ever, there're plenty of young soul reapers in our squad."

"Momo was the youngest vice-captain in all thirteen squads."

"Renji was the weirdest; I loved making fun of his tattoos and that weird sunglass he loves. It always ticks him off."

The rest of the hour passed as they talked about one topic to another, but always going back to their lost loved ones. Hitsugaya was quite surprised when Rukia stood up, give him a slight bow; and was planning to leave.

"Let's just meet here from now on; this forest is at the back of all the squad training grounds. No one can disturb us here." Hitsugaya said, Rukia smiled sweetly at him, and with another bow, she disappeared.

* * *

Hitsugaya walked back to fourth division, where he was met by his lieutenant, Matsumoto.

"Captain!" she called in a sing-song voice, "where've you been?"

"That therapy thing, didn't want people like you eavesdropping on me." Hitsugaya said, but inside, he was wondering why had he followed the small girl out? It was very unlike him to talk, let alone for a whole hour.

"Jeez! Captain! That's so mean." Matsumoto pouted, but she note the wind dying down since half an hour ago, the snow was still coming down hard, but it seems his mood was slightly better.

The other captains were in Isane's office, they didn't dare to come out and tease Hitsugaya on the way he dragged Rukia out. He was very scary when he's mad, and they sensed he still wasn't in the best of moods. Not to mention Byakuya was glaring at all of them with killing intent as he remembered how Hitsugaya had spent an hour with Rukia, in private. Why did he pick Rukia? And now that Byakuya thought about it, Hitsugaya was quite close to Rukia in age, he was starting to dislike it more and more. He knows Rukia has a natural grace that seems to draw people to her; she could charm the icy little captain without even realizing it. With another glare toward the white haired male, Byakuya shunpoed out of Isane's office, making a mental note to keep an eye on him.

* * *

The next day Hitsugaya arrived to find Rukia had cleaned the snow off a large space and it now had a soft blanket that covered the ground. Smiling, Rukia gives him a respectable bow, in her hands was.

"A picnic? Kuchiki, what do you think this is?" Hitsugaya scowled at her.

"Well, talking is not going to help me, and I sense it won't help you either. So," Rukia gestured to the basket and the blanket, "We are going to celebrate their lives."

"What? We can't celebrate dead people's lives!" Hitsugaya was losing his patience.

"We are dead too. And just because we can't be with them right now, doesn't mean we'll never see them again. So we are going to celebrate Hinamori and Renji's lives. The success they had, the life they lead. Renji would laugh his head off if he sees me crying over a 'warrior'" Rukia air-quoted, rolling her eyes. "And Hinamori would be sad if you remain sad too."

Hitsugaya was lost for words, but after a few seconds, he let out a tiny grin and sat down on the soft blanket, it was surprisingly warm. He petting the space next to him, and Rukia sat down with him, pulling things out of the basket.

Soon they were both dinning on a very good bento, Hitsugaya was secretly really happy with the good. Rukia was a good cook, and despite the nasty food rumors Ichigo had everyone believe.

"This is good, Ichigo was spread rumors about you adding lipstick to his bento. Knew he was lying." Hitsugaya said between bits.

"Hm, actually, I did add lipstick to his bento once. He didn't even notice until his friends pointed it out. He thought it was just food coloring for the heart. And I added eye shadow to his omelet once; I don't think he knows about that one…" Rukia trailed off, a grin on her face as she remembered Ichigo's face when he realized he was eating lipstick.

Hitsugaya smirked, this was fun, and he hated Ichigo and his attitude. After the winter war, Ichigo has become the captain of fifth division. Apparently, his 'body' had been nothing more then a gigai that turned him human like the one Urahara had given to Rukia. So once Rukia re-awakened his soul reaper side, the gigai had lost its use. Byakuya had been touchy ever since he heard Ichigo was going to be permanently living in soul society.

Now that Hitsugaya thought about it, Byakuya had another good reason to be in a bad mood. People had really noticed Rukia and her abilities in the winter war; he could no longer keep it quiet that she was strong enough to make a good lieutenant. With so many injured and killed seated officers, Byakuya was having a hard time keeping his precious little sister out of being promoted.

"Sir? Are you okay, sir?" Rukia's voice called him back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just thinking about that lipstick. Ichigo's been on and on about how I'm not longer the youngest captain, but still the shortest. Bastard." Hitsugaya eyes flashed.

"Well, he does get under people's skin a lot. But he doesn't dare to provoke me too much, I lived with him for almost a year; I got too much dirt on him to get me angry." Rukia smiled happily, sucking on a piece of candy.

_Not to mention Byakuya narrows his eyes dangerously every time Ichigo comes close to you. _Hitsugaya thought to himself, but he didn't voice this.

"Here," Rukia said suddenly, pulling out two goblets, and filling them with grape juice. "I know we're over the age limit, but I don't want either one of us drunk. So here's to Renji and Hinamori, wish them a happy after, after life."

Hitsugaya grinned slightly at this, he didn't know why. Rising his cup, "Renji and Momo." And he drained his cup, before turning his attention to the rest of the basket. To his dread, it all contained sweets.

"Sweets?" letting out a heavy sigh, Hitsugaya leaned back on his elbows. "What's with thirteenth squad? Is it some kind of joke?"

"No, captain saw me bring the basket to you, so he insisted on the candy. Sorry, I heard you don't like them much. Mind if I have one?" Rukia asked sweetly.

"Dig in." Hitsugaya said, and grinned again at her squeal of delight. Who knew the Kuchiki princess was such a child at heart?

The rest of the hour went by rather fast; they drank again to their fallen friends, and laughed at the happy memories they left. Hitsugaya felt weird, since when did he laugh and talks like this?

* * *

For the next couple of weeks, Hitsugaya and Rukia met in their little hiding spot. Rukia always had an idea to cheer him up, get his thoughts away from Hinamori for a few minutes. They celebrated their friends' lives, shared pictures and stories of their childhood. One day they talked about the embarrassing moments they shared with their friends, the next they recalled the childish behavior of their past friends. Time passed quickly, the snow stopped on the second week; but Hitsugaya still made it snow once in a while, just to see how happy that would make Rukia. He noticed she always make this squeal of delight at the pure snow falling to the ground, so he made sure to let it snow when he felt the petite shinigami getting sad.

After a few weeks, Hitsugaya noticed how he knew Rukia better then he had ever known anyone. Hinamori and he grew up together, and with his secret crush on her. They never had much to talk about; he hated her talk of soul reaper academy and 'Aizen-sama'. With Rukia, she was almost a boy in many ways, easy to talk to, but shows her gentle girlish side whenever he's down.

Even after their little session was stopped, Hitsugaya and Rukia still found time to talk to each other. They also started mini training sessions, she was a fast learner; and he loved pinning her down and watching her pout.

A couple of weeks later, the captain general called for a captain's meeting, the topic? The re-placement of captains and vice-captains.

"We are missing captains for third, seventh, and ninth division. Is there any out there who posses a bankai and may be trained into a captain?" the white bearded captain commander boomed.

"Sir, Matsumoto has released her bankai during the war, with no control yet. Ikkaku also has bankai, with some control." Soi Fon reported.

Yamamoto nodded, "then Matsumoto shall be the new third division captain, Ikkaku will be seventh, whether he likes it or not; Ikkaku will be promoted. We shall not give them the usual test, the war is not fully over yet; we need to be on our guard, and we don't have time. Anyone for the ninth division captain?"

No one said anything; the only ones available were the exiled ex-captains currently in the living world. This was a touchy topic, and this is war time, so maybe a captain would be put off for now.

Sensing no one was going to say anything, Yamamoto turn to the topic of vice captains. Many squads were missing their vice captains. Thirteenth squad haven't had one for ages, tenth's just been promoted; second and sixth's had been killed in the last battle; Hinamori was in no condition to even talk, let alone fight Aizen's men.

"Kuchiki, I am sorry but I can no longer let you keep your sister unseated. She has proved herself worthy of being a lieutenant; nor can I permit her as your vice-captain, there are four other squads without vice-captains right now. I will allow you to choose one, so long as both captains agree." Yamamoto said, sensing the mere flicker of angry reitsu from Byakuya; he knew Byakuya must be really mad to let the merest trace of anger show. But knowing the head captain won't take back the order, Byakuya quickly scanned the captains all around him.

"Actually, it's three. My two third seats are just fine, nor do I think being in Kaien's shoes would be good for her." Ukitake spoke up, "She's been in my squad since the start, as I am often sick, without a lieutenant, Rukia has been acting as a seated officer for some time. I assure you all she has the ability to make a great one. Her paper works are never late and always neatly done."

Byakuya was really angry now; Soi Fon is out, it's bad enough she has to be a lieutenant let alone under that cruel woman's thumb (yes, even Byakuya thinks Soi Fon is a little over board). Ichigo is the captain for fifth, hell would freeze over before he'll let them be official partners; and that leaves Hitsugaya, they were close in age, both gone though similar situations with similar emotion problems. Hitsugaya had already dragged his sister into spending an hour each day together… this was a tough choice on Byakuya's part, as everyone sweat dropped when Byakuya's icy glare scanned over them. Secretly wishing they would never be caught in this situation.

"Hitsugaya taichou, would you mind being my sister's captain? I feel confidence in your skills as well as your experience." Byakuya said loudly, as if to clear himself of any suspicions that he dislikes the orange hair captain.

Ichigo just sneered; he knew it would land on the tiny captain. Even though he was the 'youngest' captain now, people didn't bother to treat him like a genius. So the shortest captain joke didn't have an effect as good as he thought. Plus the white haired boy has been spending time with Rukia a lot that past couple of weeks. Rukia has a tendency to make friends with boys fast, and Ichigo had been pouting over Rukia's silence. He wanted to talk a little; Ichigo wasn't stupid, no matter how good a mask Rukia put up. Losing your oldest friend can't just be forgotten overnight, it bothered him greatly to think Rukia was confiding in Hitsugaya (whom she hardly knew) then in him.

Hitsugaya actually had a smile in his head, but he kept his face calm and collected as he nodded to Byakuya. Who was comforted slightly when Hitsugaya wasn't secretly excited like Ichigo had been a few seconds ago. But the little captain was an ice mask, and Byakuya won't take chances with his baby sister. Both young captains was getting an eye kept on them, at least while Rukia's around.

Hitsugaya forgot himself for a few moments when he went to their sparring session that afternoon. He spilled the news to her before he remembered they weren't supposed to be meeting anymore. At least that's what they want the rest of soul society to believe, it was annoying how a simple conversion between two friends could turn into dating in seconds once the news get into the wrong hands. And somehow the news always seems to get into the wrong hands; Hitsugaya didn't trust his lieutenant a bit in this.

* * *

"But this is wonderful!" Rukia danced at the news. "I wanted to be a seated officer for ages! They just never promote me! Guess my efforts paid off, plus the timing of the war." She smiled at Hitsugaya, who for once didn't scowl back.

"Yeah, you're moving into the tenth division's barracks tonight. We have to have everything settled in; there will be large amounts of paper work, and it'll be dangerous." He added.

"Dangerous? Like paper cuts?" Rukia asked innocently.

Hitsugaya snorted at this, again, so unlike him. Shaking his head in silent laughter, he said "no, great imagination though. Aizen and Gin's death was never confirmed. We retrieved Tosen's body a few weeks ago. Although there were several witnesses to Aizen taking a hit from Ichigo's bankai, we still don't have his body, Gin's arm was severed; but he could still be alive, just not active as he can no longer hold the sword. Of course, the _Hōgyoku_ is still out there somewhere, making new espadas, who's been causing trouble in quite a few places lately. That's why head captain has been keen on filling in as much positions as possible."

That silenced Rukia, but she quickly took out boxes of fruit. Cherries for her and cubed watermelon for Hitsugaya. Who quickly sat down at the sight of them, Rukia always cut them into cubes so he doesn't have to have peels all around. Hitsugaya also discovered Rukia eats a lot, and he meant a lot. Somehow the girl could just sit there and eat the whole time, and never grew fat or taller.

They started small talks again, they had just found out yesterday they both had a great love in literature. Sharing their favorite book title became their new theme now, today was Shakespeare.

"I'm just saying, a lot of his works were real, so the story line can't be considered his work!" Rukia said heatedly.

"Yeah, but Romeo and Juliet was just a rumor that no one knew what really happened. I mean who knows what really happened between them? They most certainly didn't record it or tell anyone." Hitsugaya retorted.

"It's not the same, Hitsugaya taichou! Julius Caesar was recorded in history, and he just worded it so it rhymed! I don't see how that deserves all the praises he's getting, and I didn't know you like Shakespeare! It's weird; maybe guys secretly like those emo love stories. Ichigo also loved Shakespeare." Rukia turned to look at Hitsugaya.

"Yeah, well… you know, you're the only one who has been carrying a conversion with me and not call me 'Shiro'." Hitsugaya quickly changed the subject, he didn't want to talk about Ichigo, who's getting on his nerves everyday; and it's been bothering him for a while now, the little noble was always so formal it actually made him uncomfortable. He always wanted adults to call him "Hitsugaya taichou", but having a girl younger then him, and a friend, call him that just disappoints him a bit. After all, he considered them friends, and he's been calling her Rukia since their first day.

"I didn't want to be rude, sir. I heard you only likes when people call you by your title." Rukia said a little timidly.

"Well, drop the formalities. I consider you a friend; besides, you're younger and shorter then me…" Hitsugaya trailed off as Rukia let out a angry little cry.

"That's low, but I'm honored. I consider you a friend too." She smiled brightly, "so how about Toshiro-sama?"

Hitsugaya just nodded, but Rukia knows that's good enough. Hitsugaya really didn't talk much, or as Rukia mentally correctly herself, Toshiro-sama.

"Oh, and you still don't have your uniform, right? Thirteenth squad sure is busy lately." Hitsugaya noted.

"Yeah, we're in charge of searching for Gin. Our funds and time are really tight; half of our company's uniforms were destroyed during fighting. Good thing I still got my cloth from the living world, although I do need a new one soon…" Rukia muttered.

"Yes, you do. Go to Nemu of twelfth squad and ask for some silk. Twelfth division hardly fought at all, they should have materials. Mind you, ask her, not someone else. I don't want you poisoned or used as an experiment." Hitsugaya muttered, the entire twelfth division creeps him out.

Nodding, Rukia made up her mind to ask for the silk and let Uryu make it for her. She knows the guy could fix it before dinnertime. It was a good thing Uryu was currently in soul society to receive training, he wasn't too happy about training with soul reapers. So his favorite hobby should cheer him up.

"I want to see you once you got your uniform ready, it doesn't matter what it looks like. Uryu can make it weird sometimes, but don't go overboard, no Chappy or bunny ears." Hitsugaya hissed, earring a scowl from the petite girl. But she bowed, cleaned up, and went to find the lieutenant of twelfth division.

Nemu was very happy to see Rukia; it gives her a chance to do something other then experiments. She found quite a bit of materials for Rukia, making sure they were safe, she added a bit more so Uryu could have a little fun with the design.

Uryu was delighted at the sight of all the raw materials waiting for his "fashion genius" to flow onto them. And as Hitsugaya and Nemu predicted, he went over the board with the design. And as Nemu was standing right in front of him, he made two sets of uniform quite similar to hers. It had a tight sleeve, short skort, and a wide sash. However, it didn't have Nemu's puffy shoulders, and it had a large ribbon tied like a butterfly to the back; making it look like a pair of wings coming out of her back.

Rukia was, for once, quite happy with Uryu's design, he didn't put a Quincy's mark on it (seems like even he knew better then to do that on a shinigami uniform), he didn't do flowers, and Rukia loved the ribbon.

* * *

Hitsugaya had a worse time then Rukia did. He had to go to the stern sixth division captain's office and listen to half an hour of death threats. How could Rukia not notice this over protective side of Byakuya, then again, he worked hard to keep his cold and menacing cover. Hitsugaya secretly pitied Renji and Ichigo, who both obviously had feeling for her; poor Renji, he was probably going to die under Byakuya's blade one day anyway, probably after a hug from Rukia.

They met each other in Hitsugaya's office an hour later, Rukia in her new uniform, looking like a princess. Matsumoto, who was cleaning up, gasped at Rukia and hugged her like a doll. Hitsugaya sighed; there goes his plan of making Matsumoto work on her last day. But she was right, Rukia did look very pretty and cute in her outfit; but Hitsugaya would never comment on it in front of Matsumoto.

"Matsumoto, would you mind showing Rukia tenth division and all seated officers? I still got a bit more paper work to do; I'll show her the paper work. Since you've never done a single page in the last ten years." Hitsugaya said, and Matsumoto squealed happily, taking her new doll away.

Matsumoto turn out was a much better lieutenant then the rumor described her. She handled her subordinate quite well, and Rukia smiled sweetly at each of them. Most of them were sad to see Matsumoto go, but as Rukia might not dump her work on the seated officers, she was treated nicely. Matsumoto was getting smart at the wrong time, she immediately noticed the guys blush at Rukia's smile, but Rukia was so cute and sweet the girls didn't seem mean towards her.

After meeting all the officers and groups of unseated, Matsumoto ditched Rukia when Hisagi called her for a drink. Left alone, Rukia made light conversions with the third seat, until Hitsugaya came calling for her.

The paper work was simple enough to Rukia, she wasn't the best at reports, but she had good penmanship and she was quite good at writing (Hitsugaya had examined her previous work). She felt confident she could do the job, so when she moved her things into tenth division's barrack that night, she felt comfortable. Sleeping in a large, new room, Rukia promised herself she would serve Hitsugaya well. Rukia wasn't one who gives out her loyalty easily, but that afternoon she had sworn in private to Hitsugaya her undying loyalty (earning a smile from Hitsugaya). Rukia wasn't going back on her words, and with that, our little petite shinigami fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

The next day Hitsugaya arrived at his desk, surprised at a hot cup of tea and a plate of breakfast, his favorite, no less.

Rukia had arrived before him half an hour, surprising Hitsugaya again, he got up really early.

Rukia had also sorted though the paper work so that Hitsugaya only had to do the stuff only a captain could do; it was still a lot, but almost half at what he used had to do on a daily basis.

Somehow Rukia motivated a lot of the officers to work harder and faster, quite a feat considering their captain is Hitsugaya the workaholic. Although Hitsugaya had to note all motivated officers were male.

Rukia got rid of the candy Ukitake gave to Hitsugaya, although her method had simply been eating them like she was drinking water.

Rukia also got him lunch, it wasn't home made like she normally gave him, but it was still good.

So all in all, it was a wonderful first day. And by three that afternoon, even Hitsugaya was at a loss for work. So when Matsumoto and Kyoraku came in to see him that afternoon, they found him drinking a cup of tea and reading—a novel.

* * *

"She did all that, and she's not dead from overwork yet?" Matsumoto gaped as Hitsugaya described his wonderful day.

"Why didn't I promote her into my division? Then I don't have to listen to Nanao, and I got off work!" Kyoraku said with much envy.

"She didn't let me get off work! She just did what a lieutenant does, what Matsumoto should've done. But the tea and food was very nice of her, and she got rid of the candy." Hitsugaya actually had a small grin on his lips, "although I don't think eating that much candy was very good for her."

"Yes it is!" Rukia's angry voice sounded behind them.

Hitsugaya's greeting was a pet on the head, he had found this to be very entertaining, Rukia always had an angry and exasperated look; it was nice to finally have someone shorter then you whom you can pet. No wonder the adults loved doing it to him and Momo too. Rukia, being Rukia, would never let him off like that; their deal was Rukia get a piece of candy every time he pets her.

Seeing her outstretched hand, Hitsugaya just shook his head, "No, I'll give it to you tomorrow. You had enough candy for one day, can't believe I got to restraint candy on you like sake on Matsumoto." Rukia made a face, and Hitsugaya smirked.

Matsumoto and Kyoraku was like watching a movie or a dream; did the icy captain just smirk? And the super workaholic had the whole afternoon off? Rukia getting pet and candy? This was either a dream come true or a nightmare where their beloved little captain had gone completely insane.

And of course, Matsumoto and Kyoraku being Matsumoto and Kyoraku, wasted no time in spread this shocking news though out Gotei 13. All sorts of people who didn't believe in the rumor came in during late afternoons to check for themselves. Even the never smiling Soi Fon and Byakuya came, although they both claimed they had business with the young captain, just at a very popular hour for the small captain with very minor business.

Ichigo had pouted even more when he came; he was having difficulties with his captaincy. Much to Hitsugaya's delight, and Rukia couldn't stop smirking the whole time, causing Ichigo to scowl more then usual.

* * *

At the end of February, three months after the battle in which Aizen and Gin disappeared. Hollows were disappearing, they stopping showing up for weeks at a time, the quiet was eerie. There were still no sign of the two traitors, nor is there any sign of… anything. It seems as if Hueco Mundo has been erased from existence, no trace of any spiritual activity, not even plus souls were present.

That was when the head captain got worried and decides Aizen and Gin must be alive, they're keeping all the hollows inside Hueco Mundo to turn them into espadas, and those plus souls must also be forced into hollows.

Stationing a captain and a lieutenant in Karakura town was a big thing, only the squad who' functioning most perfectly can afford losing their captain and lieutenant for two weeks. And the job fell too…

You said it, tenth.

Hitsugaya was not happy at all, and that's an understatement. His squad had finally been the best for a couple of month, thanks to Rukia. It was like a dream come true that his squad was functioning better then sixth or fifth.

But since the head captain had ordered it, the two of them had no choice but to take care as many work as possible the week before, pack, and leave. Rukia didn't feel anything odd at work, but Ichigo was positively fuming.

First the head captain had stated tenth division was the best, and then Rukia have to spend two whole _weeks_ with the other little brat. And they seem fine with it other then they have a lot of work to catch up to. If anything, Byakuya seems proud that it was because of his little sister tenth division was now the best.

* * *

Rukia and Hitsugaya arrived in the human world at night; they didn't want a lot of attention. Uryu, Chad and Orihime had gone back a month ago, they would find the little team in the morning. But first, they needed to inform the obnoxious shop keeper.

Inside Urahara's shop, Rukia and Hitsugaya were standing next to an Urahara who was near hysteria with all his laughter. Rukia tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Hitsugaya's command so she could jump and attack the man before her.

"Are you done yet?" Hitsugaya snarled, and with dificulty, Urahara stood up straight. Although he still can't keep that annoying grin off his face.

"Calm down, Hitsugaya taichou sama! He he." Urahara said with a sneaker, behind him, his assistants grinned.

Rukia made an odd noise between a snarl and a cry of outrage; she made an attempt to cast a binding spell on the rude man. But Hitsugaya touched her hand slightly, and Rukia stepped back, but placing herself between her captain and the annoying shop keeper.

Urahara raised an eyebrow, this was unforeseen. He had heard that Rukia recently became Hitsugaya's lieutenant; but their understanding and Rukia's loyalty is almost like Matsumoto and Hitsugaya, who's been partners for over ten years, there is something odd about the new pair though. But Urahara decide to drop it for the moment as both ice zanpaktou wielders shot glares at his way.

"I was just a little surprised, really now." Urahara amended; he had clasped in laughter the moment Rukia had told him everything that has happened. Never in his dream would he see these two ice wielders so close, it was almost too cute.

"Shut up, don't you dare mock Toshiro-sama!" Rukia said heatedly, defending her captain from Urahara's rude behavior.

"Toshiro-sama? Since when did he allow anyone call him by his name?" Urahara's attention was immediately directed at how Rukia had addressed her captain. It was amazing Urahara hadn't tried to dig a hole or shunpo away under the intense and venomous gaze Rukia and Hitsugaya was giving him.

Hitsugaya didn't even bother answering, he had to explain to half of the soul society that Rukia was his friend, a girl, and younger then him; and that's the only reasons he lets Rukia calls him by his name. He swears SoiFon have a split personality, how can she kill people without even blinking, and the next second connect an innocent gesture between two friends to something, romantic?

Urahara didn't pursue the matter further; he turned rather serious and apologized for not having any leads for them. So they bid goodbye (or rather, Rukia waved to his assistants, while Hitsugaya just sneered at the older guy some more), and they went to find their 'apartment'.

Thanks to Karakura town being a target for so long, the soul society had rented an apartment complex in one of the tall hotels. They had made sure it was always available to them, and it was on the highest floor the hotel had rooms' in. so the soul reapers could come in and out of the window.

However, there was two huge problem with this, it was meant as a temperately stay for stationed soul reapers; so it was a one bedroom. Also, even though they could pass though the window, they still had to go into the gigai Urahara had provided, and check in at the front desk.

* * *

"Toshiro-sama, what's our story?" Rukia whispered to Hitsugaya as they made their way to the hotel.

"What story, Rukia?" Hitsugaya whispered back, they were receiving a lot of attentions. A boy with white hair and a girl with purple eyes wondering around the street in the middle of the night caused many by passers to look at them with interest.

"Toshiro-sama, what would they think when they see just the two of us checking into a reserved hotel room? You grown quite a bit, and could pass for a high scholar, but everyone who sees me thinks I'm in middle school! We don't blend in either! Plus that room has been reserved for a while now." Rukia hissed.

Hitsugaya looked at her in question, but he pulls open the lobby door to let her inside. "Rukia, I still don't get you. What's the big problem?" Hitsugaya hissed back.

But just then the doorman walked up to them with a smile, "Hello, welcome to Karakura hotel, are you waiting for your parents? You may go have a seat by the fountain, there's candy and drinks on the table."

Hitsugaya's vein popped, how dare this man who's around one fifth of his age treat him like a kid, candy and parents? He was just about to protest when Rukia stepped in front of him, and with a 'princess' smile, shook the doorman's hand. While in secret she slipped a bill, the doorman seems shocked a middle school girl had just tipped him.

"Hitsugaya-sama has a reservation in this hotel, do you mind leading us to the front desk?" she asked sweetly, the doorman nodded, still dumbfounded at Rukia's 'grown up' behavior. "Right this way."

It was at the front desk Hitsugaya realized what Rukia was talking about, but thanks to his many experience with the girl's acting, he went along as best as he could. He leaned against the cool front desk while Rukia talked to the lady behind the marble desk.

"Hitsugaya-sama have a reservation, I hope your hotel doesn't want to lose him as a client. We demand to use that room now." Rukia glared daggers at the girl behind the front desk, who seems to think it was just a rich boy taking his girlfriend for a 'vacation'.

After the manager came, after many argument on Rukia's part, and after a full apology once Hitsugaya decide to interfere. The two of then finally got the key to their room, the manager had promised there will be a comfortable king size bed waiting for them, which was a good enough apology for the worn out shinigami.

"Why did we choose to do this at night?" Rukia complained.

"I can't believe they thought we were, we…" Hitsugaya was stuttering, while Rukia smirked at him.

The room was comfortable enough, with the exception of the one bed, that is. Rukia insists Hitsugaya to take it, while Hitsugaya wouldn't budge; he simply refused to have the girl living on the floor. In the end they decide it was a big enough bed for them to share, after all, they were 'children' in soul society standard. No one would think anything weird of them. But both of them still blushed furiously as they got under the cover, it was cold this high up in the air, not to mention Rukia had turn the AC on full blast.

They both slept without their gigai, who was placed on the roof and out on the street, keep watch while the two slept. Both of their swords on their bedside table, Rukia fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the bed, she didn't even notice she was in her captain's arms. Hitsugaya, who was still awake, blushed again, but he shrugged and decides to hold the tiny girl in his arms as they both slept though the night.

The next morning the first thing they did was blush like a ripe tomato when they realized their body was entangled in a very 'improper' way. Rukia had jumped out of bed and apologized over and over again; she had her head bowed, so Rukia didn't see the small grin playing on Hitsugaya's lips, he had actually been awake for a while now, just silently holding the girl; Even he wasn't sure why he did that.

As they got dressed, Rukia avoided her captain's eyes all though breakfast, so she missed again the strange look Hitsugaya was giving her. But she recovered somewhat as they got ready for a day of explorer, getting into their gigai, Rukia and Hitsugaya walking into the early morning sun.

A/N: okay, that was my first chapter, it's a little longer then it will be. I want to get the story going, so the next chapter won't be as long, sorry.

So waht do ya think? it's my very first one, so no poking fun of my writing please. i love this pair, and many thanks to those who inspired me. i hope mine didn't have too much in common with the existing stories.

please review, i'm so nervous...


	2. Chapter 2 white snow

* * *

A/N: okay, here's the second chapter! it isn't as long as the first one. i made it fluffy and adorable, and no, this is not rated M, so nothing like that. Plus don't expect hitsuruki happening too fast.

Many, Many, Many thanks to those who reviewed, i didn't even know people would read mine! i'm so happy you all did, please review. p.s i tried to spell check. don't know how good it was.

i got it posted earlier then i though, so enjoy! :)

* * *

The visit with their human friends didn't go as bad as their visit with the corny shopkeeper, but there certainly was a bit more giggling then Hitsugaya liked. It was all he could do not to glare icy daggers at Orihime, who seems to be on the verge of burst out laughing like Urahara. Chad had grinned a bit at Rukia, who was nice enough to update him on Ichigo, or more precisely, list the troubles he caused in soul society. (brief list: he picked a fight with Ikkaku three times just last week; stole Rukia' s stock of candy, knocking her tea cup over in the process; tried, but failed, to dye Hitsugaya's hair pink)

Uryu had updated Rukia's uniform again, she was starting to regret ever going to him to replace her uniform. This time, her sash is more like a kimono's wide belt; it had silver patterns of butterflies on it too. Uryu had also gotten her a ribbon for her hair to match her new belt, which also had an even bigger bow tie this time. It was wider and looked like a butterfly wings her back more then ever; but Hitsugaya allowed it as he though it might look good with her shikai, Rukia was much taken aback at the odd complement.

The three of them agreed to be on the lookout more, and Orihime was very sad Ichigo couldn't come. But she was secretly happy Rukia seems so close to Hitsugaya, maybe she still had a shot with Ichigo. She didn't voice this out loud, and Rukia didn't notice at how happy Orihime is now Ichigo isn't hanging around her; but Hitsugaya took in every move, he wasn't stupid in romance, maybe he never had a girlfriend, but he knows the carrot top had a major crush on his lieutenant; he also knows Orihime was in love with Ichigo. It brought his memory of a conversion he had with Rukia a few days ago.

* * *

_a few days ago..._

_They were in seventh division captain's office, waiting for Byakuya and Ukitake, who was both in a meeting with the head captain (they needed strategies on dealing with the now fully released 'break down sphere'). Rukia had a stack of forms in her hands, Hitsugaya had a book like report on his lap, both absorbed with their work._

"_Geez, Rukia, I see a certain workaholic's been rubbing off on you." Matsumoto said, eyeing the amount of work she had._

"_Well, we'll be missing two whole weeks of work, so no slacking off." Rukia replied without even looking up._

"_You know what's funny? You two are the youngest captain and lieutenant in history, well, I guess Ichigo is younger but…, my point is you two work harder then anybody, even the old Kuchiki!" Kyoraku sighed, and Nanao hit him over the head._

"_If we don't work harder, then people would always say it's because we're short or we're inexperienced." Hitsugaya said with an annoyed sigh. "Don't know why they always link 'short' and 'stupid' together."_

"_And they say it's because I'm a girl and a Kuchiki princess. Somehow that's the only time people EVER remember I'm a GIRL!" Rukia put in with disgust. "Besides, i'm only petite."_

_Matsumoto blinked, "people don't treat you like a girl? You have plenty of guy friends; in fact, most of your friends are guys! I though you would be pampered by them everyday!"_

_Rukia looked up and rolled her eyes for the roomful of captain and lieutenants to see, who were all are looking at her with interest, "Yeah, I'm pampered like a princess everyday, I'm the epitomic of a girl. They talk softly to me, they don't swear in front of me, and they even walk me home every night." Rukia's voice dripped with heavy sarcasm._

"_You're friends with them all this time and they never did any of that?" Matsumoto and Nanao now look offended; even SoiFon had snapped her head up sharply at this._

"_They don't see you as a girl?" Kyoraku asked, he knows for a fact, along with the rest of the room, that Ichigo and Renji both have a major crush on her._

"_No, they never see me as a girl. Probably never will either." Rukia trailed off._

"_So you're not pampered, but they're morons too; they know you're a girl, don't worry." Matsumoto was slightly mad at her former captain now, after all the time he spent with her, he still doesn't know how to flatter a girl?_

"Y_eah, right, the only time they acknowledged that I'm a GIRL, is when they call me a 'bitch' instead of 'son of a bitch'." Rukia said with some bitterness._

_You could almost see Matsumoto's face steam, the other girls were all gaping; they were all under the impression Rukia's friends, who was all going after 'more then a friend', would treat her like a queen. SoiFon was adding a mental note to add this little bit of gossip to the women association's newspaper, plus tips on guys' behavior around their 'friends who's a girl'._

_Ichigo had just gaped open mouth at Rukia, while Hitsugaya openly stared at her, who had already gone back to filling out the forms. With all his intelligence Hitsugaya couldn't figure how stupid and naïve the girl was, after all, this is the same girl who handles tenth division's finance perfectly like it was breathing! _

_Hitsugaya swears she has two separate brains, Byakuya's secret sheltering had left her with only two kinds of street smart: everything there is to know about Chappy and candy. 'Maybe I should act more gentlemen around her; I never realized what I was teaching her! And damn that Kurosaki, how dare he calls her a bitch! And he's supposed to be in love with her!'_

_That conversion was cut short by the arrival of Ukitake and Byakuya, whose stone like face silenced whatever was going on in the room; Hitsugaya had made a mental note to learn from him, if only he had that power over Matsumoto when she was his lieutenant…_

* * *

Well, he wasn't about to spill the beans to Rukia, she was an uncanny good actress; Hitsugaya had a feeling she might actually know more then she let on, but she'll never be interested in hearing Ichigo's feelings from her captain, who was, let's face it, a guy.

So when they left the three humans, Hitsugaya was deep in though, he never had to think more then a few minutes on anything before he figures it out, not with Rukia Kuchiki though. He sighed when she let out a squeal of delight at the sight of an ice cream shop, ignoring Hitsugaya's protest; she had dragged him inside to satisfy her need for some sweet.

For about the one thousands time since he met her, Hitsugaya wonders if Rukia have a split personality, God, he was sure she does have a split brain/intellegence. She could somehow learn accounting for the whole division in less then a month, but not see the obvious signs of people having a major crush on her; she fought against five espadas by herself, but she would let you pet her as long as she gets a piece of candy; she would defend her captain and punch another captain (meaning Ichigo) without a second thought, but she would turn utterly unreasonable when Hitsugaya restrains her from candy and bunnies. Hitsugaya sat across from her in the ice cream shop as he watched a bright smile lit across her face as she gulped down a large ice cream cone, he liked it better when she smiled, so Hitsugaya decides to let her loose a little with the rare human treats she won't get in soul society.

"Tell you what, if you could make me three promises, I'll let you get as much sweets as you want during these two weeks." Hitsugaya felt proud when her delight quickly changes to suspicion.

"Three promises? What are you up to?" Rukia said with her eyes narrowed, her captain had discovered a new game to play with her a few month ago, getting her to become his slave outside of work.

"Questioning your own captain, Rukia? I'm not up to anything; these three promises won't involve you doing labor for me or pranks." Hitsugaya let out a grin, the last few times he played this on her was a little overboard, he had somehow let out his childish side. But this time, he was making sure Rukia wouldn't risk her life for something stupid; if there is indeed another war coming, he wants Rukia to keep herself safe and away from any stupid sacrifices she tends to make.

After many arguing and promises from Hitsugaya he won't make her do his laundry again, Rukia agreed to his deal. She finished up her ice cream and they resumed their patrols again, they felt a flicker of spiritual energy now and then, but it always turn out to be just a normal human's, Karakura town really had way too many spiritual aware people.

But Hitsugaya couldn't shake off the feeling they were being watched, he looked up at the sky a few times, there was no black rip or a hollow's spiritual pressure. The quiet was eerie, Tokyo should be crowded with ghosts, people die all the time, yet there wasn't one plus soul in sight. Even Rukia thought this was odd, Karakura town seems to attract hollows more then any other place thanks to its many spiritual aware people; the hollows that interrupted many of Ichigo's sleeps was now gone completely. It was as if someone had erased hollows from existence.

* * *

Their fruitless search continued for the rest of that week, it wasn't until Sunday afternoon did they feel a ripple of spiritual energy that didn't belong to a ghost seeing human.

The two of them hopped out of their gigai in a flash and shunpo-ed toward the source, the sky had a big ugly rip across it. The rip opened further, and the extended so it circled all around them. Stepping out into midair was seven espadas without a rank, the kind Aizen had mass produced in the last battle, and in front of them, Ichimaru Gin.

"You!" Hitsugaya let out a snarl like a wounded animal, "So all this time you weren't dead!" pulling out their zanpaktou, the two of them survived the little trap they had been lead into.

"Why, it's the mini captain, greetings Hitsugaya taicho." Gin let out his snake like smile, "and you got yourself a new lieutenant too, I guess short people enjoy being around short people."

Rukia and Hitsugaya let out an angry outcry, this was getting personal. Rukia instantly stepped in front of Hitsugaya, even though she knew she was no match for any one of the enemies that was in front of her.

"Rukia, the first promise I want from you, is to protect yourself, you hear?" Hitsugaya hissed, the candy was paying off. Rukia was just way too loyal for her own good, too selfless and stupid.

"What? What promise?" Rukia hissed back, she didn't like the odds; but she'll save her captain no matter what it takes, after all, he'll be more of use to soul society then she will; a lieutenant is replaceable, a captain isn't.

"The three you owe me for all the candy you've been getting! Don't get killed, or I'll kill you!" Hitsugaya said, Gin just looked at them hissing at each other through the slits he opened his eyes to; this was interesting news, seems like the little Kuchiki and the little captain were now close then they were.

Gin waved his fingers slightly, and the circle of espadas charged at them; although they were at least a hundred feet away, the seven espadas were almost on top of the white haired male. Rukia tried to defend her captain, but Gin had released his zanpaktou and she was doing all she could to stay on her two feet.

Behind her, the espadas had formed a circle around Hitsugaya, cutting the two off from each other's sight. Hitsugaya had released his bankai, he wasn't stupid, and he already sent a report to soul society. They need their power limit lifted, and they need back up in the next few seconds or neither of them will even have a body left. Surely SoiFon and the twelfth division can handle backup on a moment's notice, right?

But the espadas weren't attacking at their full power, they were more like shielding Hitsugaya from Rukia, but that can't be…

Seconds later, Hitsugaya heard a blood chilling scream; it could only come from Rukia; Hitsugaya was attacking all around to get out of the circle at full force now, but espadas only seem to encircle him more, blocking him from seeing Gin and Rukia's fight. There was another hair curling scream from Rukia, this time it didn't end sharply, but rather faded like she was going further away. Hitsugaya sensed the sudden decline in Rukia's spiritual pressure.

As if acting on command, the espadas all lunched an attack on Hitsugaya, who had to dodge all around to avoid them. He jumped from the circle when he sensed the two that was hovering above him suddenly disappeared; the air was wavering before Hitsugaya from the intense spiritual pressure as if he was watching through a heat screen. His eyes darted around, trying to find the dot of black that belonged to Rukia's silky hair. Below him, Gin and the seven espadas were ripping their way back to Hueco Mundo. Gin looks up and grinned like a snake, then he looked down, Hitsugaya followed his line of sight to a spot that was blocked by the black rip one of the espada had made.

And he dived, his hands outstretched, trying to catch the petite girl who was now dripping wed with her own blood.

* * *

Three days later.

Hitsugaya had a desk inside Rukia's sickroom in fourth division, all around him were mountains of work he knew he should be concentrating on. But he just can't focus, he pushed the pile of reports he was working on for the past thee hours, walking over to Rukia's bed and sat on the edge of it. Hitsugaya petted her hair gently; she had been in a coma for the past three days, from the loss of blood and the shock of the pain. A great anger and sadness rose up in Hitsugaya's chest as he remembered the limp figure he held three days ago.

_Hitsugaya's dive had taken him past the grinning Gin, catching Rukia seconds before she hit the ground. Only she didn't look like Rukia anymore, her milk white skin was now blood red; there was a deep cut along her right side, blood was oozing from it like an overflowing pump; her rib were cracked and broken, there was a cut on her face and her hair was sticking together from the blood; but worst of all, as Hitsugaya looked at the unconscious girl, her left arm had been cut completely off from the shoulder._

_Knowing he had only moments, Hitsugaya chased Orihime's spiritual pressure to her house, where she was thankfully alone. Orihime was shocked at the state Rukia was in and it took her a few minutes to restore Rukia's arm and heal her injuries. _

_Hitsugaya watched Rukia's face turn from her usual healthy shade of pink to a nasty shade of gray; when she started to tremble from the loss of blood, and no matter what Orihime did, she wouldn't wake up, Hitsugaya decided to break the rules a little and turn back early. The back up Hitsugaya had called arrived a few minutes after Hitsugaya had opened the portal and taken the unconscious Rukia to fourth division; they now replaced the two of them as Hitsugaya refused to leave Rukia even for a second._

_Byakuya had been livid, he wanted to peel Gin's skin off and sentence him to an eternity in hell. He also wanted to shove Hitsugaya against a wall for not protecting his sister; he didn't even know to feel sorry for or get madder at the young captain as he watched Hitsugaya give Rukia a loving and heartbreaking look. Thankfully Ichigo's swearing and the captain's meeting had helped him cool down before he did something rash._

_Ichigo did shove Hitsugaya against a wall when he heard Hitsugaya describe the injuries Rukia and gotten. Her whole body was still covered in blood and her uniform torn; the white ribbon was now dripping blood everywhere. And Ichigo did get madder when he saw Hitsugaya's eyes never leaving Rukia's face even for a second, and when their eyes did met, they knew in their hearts they'll never rest until they tore Gin apart limb by limb._

Unohana had explained the pain of losing an arm and losing so much blood might send her into a coma for a few days. But Hitsugaya moved his entire office to Rukia's sick room (thankfully Byakuya wasn't allowed to take her home, or he'll lock her up forever), he slept in the bed next to hers (much to Ichigo and Byakuya's dismay, but caused Matsumoto to grin); and he hadn't moved far or long from her for three days now. Looking up from his work every few seconds, hoping she would wake up, hoping he could apologize right away when she wakes up.

Sitting on her bedside, Hitsugaya took her hand and kissed it gently. Looking intently at Rukia's sleeping face, he whispered, "Rukia, please wake up, I don't want to lose my best friend."

* * *

A week later.

Hitsugaya was again behind his desk, still in Rukia's sickroom. He had gotten so used to Rukia taking care of everything, it felt like Matsumoto is back, except she used to take care of the seated officers and relations with other companies (yeah, once in a while she would work). It's been almost a week since they got back, and Rukia still lay motionless on her bed. Byakuya was working on bring her home, thank goodness Unohana didn't allow it; Ichigo pops in once in a while, pick a fight with Hitsugaya or screams at Rukia for being an 'idiot'.

Hitsugaya still slept next to Rukia every night, and Byakuya still give him the evil eye every time they meet. In fact, the only time Hitsugaya left her bedside was in absolute emergency; so it was natural he was the first to feel her awakening.

It was in the middle of the night, six days after their return, when Hitsugaya felt Rukia's spiritual pressure flicker and rise little by little. He had leapt out of his chair (thank goodness for being short, he had practice) and jumped next to her. His one hand tightened around hers, his other hand by her face; Hitsugaya watched as Rukia's eyes fluttered and opened slowly, those deep blue shone as they looked into his turquoise ones.

"Thank God, you're finally awake." Hitsugaya sighed as she smiled up at him like she didn't just lost her arm and fell into a coma for a week.

"Toshiro-sama, what happened? How long have I been out?" Rukia said, her voice slightly horse, Hitsugaya got up to get some water for her.

"Six days, technically we're still supposed to be in the living world. But now Gin's shown himself, he's been sending espadas after espadas to Karakura town, so we stationed Kenpatchi and Ikkaku there instead." Hitsugaya said with a soft smile as he handed her a cup of tea.

Rukia was silent for a while, sipping her tea. When she looked around, she saw the little 'office' Hitsugaya had set up.

"Oh, no, there must be so much work! I should've been helping, you're not going to fire me, right?" Rukia's first response nearly made Hitsugaya faint.

"You were supposed to whine about how badly hurt you were and what an irresponsible captain I am! Not worried about paper work, I was the one who didn't protect you so you fell into a week long coma. And you're worried I might fire you?" Hitsugaya sighed.

"You're irresponsible? Then what am I? I'm your lieutenant so I should've been helping you, but I couldn't even hold my own against Ichimaru for a few minutes! God, Nii-sama must be so disappointed." Rukia looked so sad Hitsugaya was at a loss for words, man this girl's got to get a life outside of Byakuya's reign.

Hitsugaya sighed again, he put his arms around Rukia, and Rukia hugged him back. "I was so worried I was going to live though losing a friend again. I thought I was going to lose my best friend." Hitsugaya admitted, Rukia's head snapped up so fast there was a loud snap.

Rubbing her neck, Rukia looked up at the boy holding her. "W-Wow, really? You consider me your b-best friend?"

"Yeah, never thought this would happen between us, let alone in three months; i didn't even see it coming! But I seems to be more comfortable around you then anyone else, guess ice zanpaktou have a personality different from everyone else's." He smiled a little to cheer her up more, "and aren't you supposed to be focusing on the part where you passed out for six days and you nearly died?"

"Well, this is me we're talking about here. I'm weird, remember?" Rukia smiled brightly, making Hitsugaya's day a little brighter. "I think you're my best friend too, I feel comfortable around you; I can tell you stupid stuff and you might make fun of me, but you never judge me on my childish thoughts." Seeing the shock in his eyes, Rukia easily read the question, "yes, I know I have childish moments."

"Whoa, moments? More like most of your thoughts and action center around kindergarten stuff. I mean, did you even see the mountain candy wrappers you had?" Hitsugaya retorted, he didn't want to talk about their 'feelings' for too long, it was so uncomfortable talking about feelings.

"Whatever, you cocky bastard, just because you finally found somebody younger then you to boss around." Rukia pouted.

"I am not cocky! But since I don't know who my parents are, I guess I can take the bastard comment." Hitsugaya smirked.

"Yeah, then how come you're the one getting all the kindergarten jokes and getting all the candy, if I'm the childish one?" Rukia was determined to whip that smirk off her captain's face.

"Are you jealous because I get candy and is more popular then you?" Hitsugaya said, drawing himself to his full height.

"Cocky bastard." Rukia said again.

Hitsugaya smiled, he was happy Rukia was back to herself. They didn't call each other names and fight over everything like the way Rukia is with Ichigo; but they did have little fun arguments to relieve themselves of stress. Hitsugaya considered himself more mature then Ichigo, and Rukia can have a serious side that was unlike the business side she showed to Ichigo (when they make plans to kill off a hollow, seems like the only time they hold a conversion with a point), or the timid side that Byakuya saw (that is, outside of the time he spied on her).

Sitting back on the chair next to her bed, they both let go of each other and leaned back. Rukia knew from the look Hitsugaya was giving her he had something to say, it was one of those "talks" he always give her when he thinks she's being unreasonable/irrsponsible.

"Rukia, I heard something the other day. Did you punch a girl from our division in the face?" Hitsugaya asked in his 'captain' voice.

"Yes, but if you had heard her, you would have too." Rukia defended herself.

"Oh I heard what she said, all right. She was gossiping with a bunch of girls from other divisions, spreading rumors about you. Wasn't she?"

"Yes, but that's not why I punched her. It was a good punch, by the way, like the ones you showed me." Rukia said with a matter-of-factly tone.

"She said you were promoted from a no seat to a lieutenant because you were a Kuchiki, and you were promoted to my lieutenant because you were sleeping with me." Hitsugaya said with a dangerous hiss, ignoring the comments Rukia made to side track him with. "From what I heard, you didn't punch her because of those nasty things she was saying about you, but because you think she insulted me."

"Well, that's is why I only punched the girl from out division." Rukia said heatedly, crossing her arms. "I still can't believe she would say something like that about you. It's like she's never met you! Everyone knows you would never do something like that."

Hitsugaya had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, how can she not see the point? "Rukia, if you knew these rumors were going around. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I though I could take care of them, I don't give a damn what they say about me, they've been doing that for years. But she insulted you, so I just couldn't hold back, I had to teach that girl a lesson." Rukia replied with a sneer, remembering how she over heard the girl gossiping about Hitsugaya.

"Well, thank you for defending me, but I do want to hear these things. If I catch them talking about you like that again, they won't get off with just a punch. So tell me about them next time, and I'm glad you don't take these ridiculous rumors to heart." Hitsugaya scowled, the list of people he wants to hit for harming Rukia was getting longer by the day. "And I'm glad my fighting lessons came in handy, that girl's nose look really bad. I overheard her complain about it, ha, you should have seen her face when she realized she just admitted she was spreading those rumors with me right behind her!"

* * *

Hitsugaya decided to share his dinner, which he still hadn't touched, with Rukia. The dinner was simple enough; Matsumoto had brought his dinner from nearby shops for the past few days. Needless to say, it was a lot worse then the stuff Rukia got just for him, there was an obvious drop in his living standard. Tonight's dinner was a simple rice balls and some over cooked vegetables, Rukia took one look at it and declared herself full.

"Don't be ridiculous! You haven't eaten in days; the only thing you got was those nutrition things they gave you. So hurry up and eat some real food, you came from the streets just like me, so I know you had worse." Hitsugaya said, Rukia was being, well, Rukia again.

"No way, first of all, that is just disgusting. You know I don't eat vegetables, especially this overcooked stuff. And I never ate during my years on the streets, my spiritual power weren't strong enough then, unlike you; you probably ate enough for the whole district, considering how much spiritual pressure you have." Rukia just crossed her arms and glared at the food.

So for the next half hour Hitsugaya used every means at his disposal to get Rukia to eat the 'healthy rabbit food', but it seems not even rabbits could get Rukia to eat vegetables this time. He tried to threaten her with a ban on candy; lure her with a new Chappy doll; trick her by telling her to close her eyes, which she almost fell for; and he finally tried to force her, but that didn't work either.

It was when Rukia held her arms up to block Hitsugaya's 'operation: Rukia eating vegetables' did Rukia remember she got her arm cut off. She waved her hand, it felt normal. Her body was sore but otherwise painless.

"Inoue healed me, didn't she? I should thank her, did you pick up my sword? I think I dropped it." Rukia said suddenly.

"Yeah, it fell besides you." Hitsugaya put down the spoon, and searhing her face for a second, he decided to ask. "Do you… want to tell me what happened?"

Rukia hesitated a second, trying to remember every aspect of that fight. "There wasn't much of a fight, Ichimaru over powered me rather quickly. He took several stabs at me, and some of them did make contact…" Rukia had to pulse again; there was something odd about it all.

"Ichimaru was a short and mid range fighter, wasn't he?" Rukia asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, he was fighting from a distance, and always wanted me to use kido for some reason. He would ask me why don't i use kido, and forces me to cast spells. Every time he steps away, I try a spell, and he would come close to stab me. It's like he wanted my body to be filled with spiritual energy like when I release my kido… that's when he cut my arm off, I think…" Rukia trailed off, trying to remember why Gin was letting her use her best subject, spells.

Hitsugaya thought for a just a few seconds, then he jumped up with his eyes round in horror. "Did he say anything during the battle? Anything at all?"

"Let's see... he said something about the Hokyoku being placed in me, how I had it in me for so long I actually have traces of it in my spiritual energy… and he congratulated me once about it not affecting me or something… but I can't remember his words too well." Rukia said apologetically, Hitsugaya was obviously onto something here.

"Oh my God. Rukia, do you think you're well enough to talk to other captains right now? Because I think I figured out the reason behind his attack." Hitsugaya said with a concerned look.

"Yes, of course."

Hitsugaya called for 11 hell butterflies, if what Rukia said was true, and then they got another bloody battle ahead of them.

A/N: yay, i made them best friends. i'm going with that route, don't complain.

i put the stuff about Rukia's uniform in there cuz i hate how she had just an ordianry uniform, and i love nemu's outfit, except for the puffy sleeves and lack of ribbons. so it's now on Rukia.

Please review, i hope i lived up to your expections!


	3. Chapter 3 White Butterfly

A/N: it's me again! yes, i updated, (give myself a pet on the back) this is a super long chappy again, i don't know how it got to be so long...

many thanks to all those who reviewed,

Scarlet white cross, i spell checked, hope it's better now.

Shia, this one's for you, thanks for the tips.

I'm not going to list all those who reviewed, cuz i'm lazy, Shia should know that... but thank you very much, i'm not so nervous anymore, so i'm gonna update faster.

Well, enjoy.

Oh, and i don't own bleach, or HitsuRuki would already be kissing.

* * *

Since Hitsugaya refused point blank to let Rukia out of her bed, the captain's meeting was held in her sickroom. With a heavy kido barrier surrounded, of course.

Byakuya and Ichigo were both very happy to see Rukia awake, but they quickly turned angry when they realized she's been awake for a couple of hours now, Hitsugaya hadn't told them she woke up. But the captains all assembled around her bed, and Rukia told again of the short battle between herself and Gin, and the little one sided conversion they held. The captains quickly arrived at the same conclusion as Hitsugaya. Yoruichi, who was also invited, let out a snarl when she heard. She led the punishment force before, whose mission was assassination, but Gin's action was just… gruesome.

Ichigo was the last to catch on (Kenpatchi and Ikkaku was still in the living world), and he was ready to rip Gin apart. Yoruichi just raised her eyebrows at the increasing spiritual pressure emitted from several of the captains, her eyes met with Ukitake's, who suppressed a smile. And it wasn't until Unohana noticed Rukia was suffering under the intense spiritual pressure from all sides did the three pissed off captain even realize they were doing it.

"This is a grave matter, ladies and gentlemen. If what Kuchiki says is true, then a battle is within sights. Let us declare an all out war on traitors and their arrancar army. Do not let down your guards, we shall have a captain's meeting in the morning. Kuchiki, when do you think you can get back to work? I need you to host a lieutenant's meeting first think tomorrow morning." Yamamoto said in his grave voice, ignoring the signs of protest coming from several people.

"Sir, I really don't think she should be back at work so soon after her recovery." Unohana said, putting a hand on Rukia's shoulder.

"She's not going back to work a few hours after she woke up from a coma!" Ichigo pretty much screamed, if it weren't for the barrier, he could've woken up the entire soul society.

"Keep your voice down, Ichigo." Rukia said in a disapproving voice, deciding to ignore the 'don't-you-dare-say-it' look she was getting from Byakuya and Hitsugaya. "The head captain knows it's for the best. Besides, how do you expect me to go back to sleep? I slept for the last six days straight!"

Yamamoto nodded approvingly, again ignoring the faint flicker of anger coming from all sides. "Then it's settled, Kuchiki, do not repeat the content of this meeting to anyone other then the lieutenants in the morning."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Everyone went straight to work, not even Matsumoto and Kyoraku was goofing around anymore. They needed the captains to be ready for battle again, Gin had obviously forced Rukia to use kido then cut off her arm so her arm was full of _her_ spiritual energy. If the Hokyoku was indeed what Gin was trying to control, using flesh and reitsu from the bear of the Hokyoku, then the espadas this time would be even more powerful. Not to mention if Gin was going around doing all this, then there is a very high chance Aizen was still alive and plotting.

Unfortunately, the last battle robbed them of captain Sajin of seventh company, as well as a few lieutenants; not to mention countless seated officers and regular guardsmen. The three new captains were still new to bankai, especially Matsumoto (who was, unfortunately, still lazy). Ikkaku and Ichigo picked too many fights, and their division was still in a mess (Ichigo still doesn't even have a lieutenant yet), and worst of all, ninth division still only have a lieutenant.

The meeting of the lieutenants ended with Kiyone (who represented thirteenth division) agreeing to help Hisagi with his work for the war; Rukia had repeated the gruesome facts and the horrifying future they were facing, nearly everyone's face turned pale at her words. And as they walked out, Rukia overheard many concerns the lieutenants were expressing. She couldn't blame them, soul society haven't faced an enemy like Aizen in centuries, for him to return so soon was like a living nightmare for many.

The war time order soon spread around, and after confirming their theory with one of the louse mouthed espada that was sent to attack Karakura, the news of the little battle between Rukia and Gin spread like wildfire. It wasn't a surprise then, when a week later, Rukia received disgusted and hated look from the other soul reapers as she walked down the street. She tried her best not to listen to what was said about her, but it was like they wanted her to hear.

"There goes that Kuchiki, a street rat from what I hear."

"Yeah, she's the source of all our troubles! First that execution, now she's got Aizen to come back again."

"I told those Kuchiki's again and again not to adopt her, but did they listen?" an older lady said particularly loud as Rukia walked pass.

"That little bitch, using the noble's name like that. First getting out of a captain offense, now jumping 19 seats all at once…"

"I heard she slept with captain Hitsugaya, that's why she was promoted into tenth division instead of her own division. I mean, thirteenth division doesn't have a lieutenant; why would she be promoted to another company?"

"Shush! I hear she punched a girl last time someone said that, be careful!" the girl next to her hissed.

The group of women glared at Rukia, who appears to have gone deaf for the last few seconds. But she was ready to punch all of them to a bloody pulp, remembering Hitsugaya's 'talk' with her. Rukia quickened her steppes and shunpo-ed to tenth division's office.

Rukia slowed her steppes outside the doorway; there was no other spiritual pressure besides Hitsugaya inside, so Rukia didn't bother to wipe off the tears that she could no longer control despite her best efforts. She walked inside, trying to put up her 'brave face', but failing miserably as no one would think her brave with those tear falling freely and hair all over her pale face.

The first thing Hitsugaya noticed when Rukia walked in was she had taken a few seconds outside to calm her messed up spiritual pressure. The second thing Hitsugaya noticed was her hair covered her face, and Rukia hated that, but she didn't bother to wipe them out of her way. The third thing as she sat down behind her desk was she has tears pouring down her face. This alarmed Hitsugaya, he had only seen her cry once, back during their 'therapy' sessions, and it was for Renji and Kaien.

Putting his arm around her carefully, Hitsugaya give her a gentle and tender squeeze, waiting for her to talk first. When she remained silent, her body was now shaking with silent sobs; Hitsugaya sat down next to her, one arm still wrapped around her shoulder.

"Spill and I'm not taking silence as an answer. Tell me what got you so worked up."

It took her a couple of second, her shoulder still shuddering slightly. "I-it's a-all my fau-fault… Aizen's b-back, a-and I-I disgraced the-the Kuchiki n-name…" she wiped the tears from her eyes, and Hitsugaya held her closer.

"I thought those rumors won't bother you?"

"B-but this, this is different… Nii-sama must be so disappointed in me… he must hate me for disgracing the noble house of Kuchiki." Rukia said, she was calmer now in Hitsugaya's arms, but her voice was still broken.

Hitsugaya sighed, she lived under Byakuya's shadow, and he decided it was time she stepped out of it.

"First of all, Aizen getting stronger is NOT your fault, you hear? If it's anyone's fault, blame it on that damn Urahara. He was the one who put it inside your soul without permission, he almost got you killed; and Aizen's greediness and evilness has nothing to do with you, crazy old men's schemes shouldn't involve innocent people like you. Ignore all those rumors and nasty gossip those girls like to spread around, okay? They don't know what happened so they don't have a right to talk."

Rukia smiled her soft smile she shown only to Hitsugaya, he pulled her onto his lap; he gave a soft kiss on top of her head, and Rukia buried her face in Hitsugaya's robes as he wrapped his arms tightly around her protectively. "You're not going to shame the Kuchiki name; a noble house shouldn't judge anyone based on rumors, and certainly never Byakuya, he won't hate you for all this commotion those stupid greedy old men caused."

They hold onto each other like that for a few more minutes, Rukia slowly gaining back control over her emotions. With Hitsugaya softly petting her back, muttering "Stupid old men and their stupid troubles." all the time, and kissing her hair once in a while. The two of them were so lost in thought they didn't even notice Hisagi and Yoruichi walking in.

"Hate to break up your cozy little snuggle, but we got work to do, there's a war going on in case neither of you noticed." Yoruichi smirked as the two quickly jump apart at her voice. _How cute, _Yoruichi thought to herself, _they're so shy, worse then Ichigo!_

But neither Hisagi not Yoruichi missed the tear marks on Rukia's face, or the concerned looks Hitsugaya shot her as they both snapped back to 'work mode'. They really were an amazing team, if not a little workaholic and obsessed. Hisagi felt bad for the entire tenth company, wondering just how much work Rukia and Hitsugaya had beaten into them. Matsumoto was right, Hitsugaya rubbed off on the petite girl; Yoruichi watched in astonishment as Rukia finished a two page income statements faster then Yoruichi can shunpo.

Though there were evidence of tears on her face, Rukia kept a calm mask over the emotions that was running wild before the intruders came in. Yoruichi and Hisagi left with the paper they need so fast Hisagi was a little offended, tenth division with Matsumoto had always been his break room, despite the complains Hitsugaya always gave him. This time, it felt like the two of them were working at top speed to get them out of there! Yoruichi couldn't stop a wide cat grin, this bit of gossip can make Matsumoto's day ten times brighter.

True to Rukia and Hitsugaya's fears, the news Yoruichi and Hisagi caught them 'snuggle' spread like the flash master had delivered it herself. People were still blaming Rukia for the upcoming war, but they now returned to the old topic: was Rukia Kuchiki sleeping with Hitsugaya or not? It was driving both of insane, but Hitsugaya rather the topic be on him then for more people to blame Rukia for something she didn't even do.

Matsumoto had been down right obnoxious after hearing about the new bit of 'gossip', the only thing she regrets is not being there personally; so she was driving Hitsugaya up the wall as usual, but this time, Hitsugaya was presented with even worse news.

"You want me to what?" Hitsugaya's vein popped.

"You mastered your bankai faster then any other captain in history. So I want you to train out new captains, as well as selected lieutenants who can spare the time." The head captain replied without opening his eyes as usual.

"I don't want to be stuck with this shorty for a month!" Ichigo whined.

"And I don't want to be within ten miles of you!" Hitsugaya retorted.

"And Shiro taichou would have to leave Rukia all by herself!" Matsumoto giggled.

"Silence, all the division training grounds will be used. So the captains can't practice bankai there, Kuchiki taichou had been kindly enough to let us use the Kuchiki private training grounds. Its' big enough for several people to practice bankai at the same time, and it was lodging as well." Yamamoto continued.

"Yes, you will all be staying on the Kuchiki grounds during your training. But as I have other business to attend to and the training grounds is outside of Seireitei, I will allow my sister to host your stay. I hope you all have a great time in your training, good day." Byakuya nodded a curly nod; evidently the news of Hitsugaya and Rukia had reached his ears, and turned to leave.

"If Rukia's coming, then I guess I can put with the kid." Ichigo snorted, but was secretly happy Rukia and he would be living together again like they used too. He was pretty pissed off when he heard how close Hitsugaya was getting to Rukia.

"Well, if Kurosaki taichou is too dense for my teachings, at least I have Rukia to rely on."

"Thank you, Toshiro-sama, I'll try my best." Rukia's voice sounded behind them, making Ichigo jump, he was the only one who didn't notice Rukia coming in after Byakuya left.

"Of course, I can always trust my back to you." 'Toshiro-sama' smiled so sweetly at Rukia Matsumoto and Hisagi gaped, that was a sweet, actual smile! And Rukia didn't seem surprised at it, but she did blush at Hitsugaya's comment, Ichigo just steamed.

"If you'll all follow me, we can leave for the training grounds right now." Rukia returned the smile, equally sweetly. Ichigo nearly flipped when he realize it wasn't full of killing intent like the sweet smiles she gave him all the time.

In the end Kira, Matsumoto, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Hisagi and Hitsugaya all went. There was a lot of fight picking and flirting and gossiping and teasing along the way. Matsumoto was enjoying herself a little too much; she had forgotten Hitsugaya was going to be their trainer. Rukia was silently working up a plan to separate their rooms.

* * *

Kuchiki training grounds

There was another surprise waiting for them! Upon arriving, Rukia found they had three more guests waiting for her. Orihime, Chad, and Uryu (the latter with a disgusted look on his face) were all settled in. Byakuya had invited the three of them, and the little warning to Rukia had been a little late. But Rukia welcomed the three of them inside, much to Matsumoto's delight.

But delight quickly turned to horror when they realized that thanks to a closet on one side of the wall, the little courtyard only has nine rooms. The rooms were all decent sized with bathrooms and mini-kitchens, but it was not big enough to fit two people; except, of course, the main room that took up a whole side of the wall by itself.

"The main room faces the door and the courtyard; it's just my bedroom, a small library and a living room. I guess I could sleep in the library, and Toshiro-sama can have the big bedroom" Rukia said, doing another head count.

"Hey, how come you have the big room?" Ikkaku complained.

"And why are you sharing your room with Hitsugaya?" Ichigo yelled.

"This whole courtyard belongs to me, I just never come here. Nii Sama's courtyard is bigger, but he didn't want us to use it. And of course Toshiro-sama would get the best room! And that's Hitsugaya taichou to you!" Rukia retorted, losing her 'Kuchiki' aura as she turned on Ichigo. Hitsugaya grinned, he had trained the girl well; so it wasn't his leadership abilities after all, but rather Matsumoto's abilities to follow orders, or lack of.

* * *

"Rukia, I really don't want you to sleep in the library; I'll stay in the library and you can keep your room." Hitsugaya insisted.

"No! I can't be rude to you like that, especially not when Nii-sama entrusted me to take care of your stay!" Rukia protested.

"Rukia, seriously, I sleep in the office a lot! You know I do, so I want you to take the bed."

"No, you take the bed."

"How about I take the big bed room and you two can crush wherever else you want?" Ichigo put in.

"Shut up." Rukia told Ichigo without looking at him

"Go away, carrot top, no one asked your opinion. This is a matter between friends and work." Hitsugaya said in his most 'captain-like' voice.

In the end Hitsugaya tried to convinced Rukia to share the bedroom with him; he can't have the girl sleeping on the couch in her own house! Besides, it's not like they never shared a room before! But when he voiced this point to convince Rukia, Matsumoto had picked that moment to pay attention, and Ichigo's face looked really like a strawberry as he steamed.

Matsumoto's ears pricked up as she heard this, wait, the room at Karakura town was a one bedroom… she grinned, so her efforts to hook her former captain with a girlfriend wasn't totally wasted. At least some pointers had sunk in. "How cute, were you really busy then? Did you two share the bed as well?"

Rukia, who didn't really get what Matsumoto was talking about, tried to defend Hitsugaya. "Well, I tried to let him take the bed, but he wouldn't listen! So we had to share it."

Ichigo turned, if possible, even redder. "You two slept in the same bed for a whole week!?"

"Yes, Kurosaki taichou. We only had a one bedroom. So naturally we had to share the bed." Hitsugaya smiled, enjoying making the taller captain fume. He was too busy staring Ichigo down to bother with Matsumoto right now.

"Wow, taichou, you're better then I thought, already getting Rukia into bed?" Matsumoto said with an evil smile.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya finally turned his attention to the perverted blonde. "Can your mind not turn automatically to perverted stuff?"

"Whaaat?" Matsumoto complained, "Wait, you weren't good enough? Or _big_ enough for Rukia-Chan?"

"MATSUMOTO!!" Hitsugaya screamed.

"I'm kind of lost…" Rukia murmured behind him.

"Good, and stay lost." Hitsugaya hissed, "And we're sharing the bedroom together." He tried to drag her along.

"Yeah, but this time, I only have a twin size bed… and I can't possibly let you sleep on the floor…" Rukia chewed her lips.

Hitsugaya just sighed, how was he going to get out of this one? Things were just simpler without all these witness to report to Byakuya, and with a king size bed.

"Stay on the same bed!" Matsumoto put in, "Rukia can't have Shiro on the floor, and Shiro can't have Rukia on the floor either, you two are tiny enough to get away with it."

"We're not little!" Rukia and Hitsugaya's attention was diverted for a second. But seeing no alternative, they agreed to share a bed together. Hitsugaya just prayed Ichigo wouldn't be so low as to tell Byakuya on him. He might be scared of the color pink for the rest of his life after Byakuya's though with him.

Rukia and Hitsugaya were soon so absorbed in telling Matsumoto they were just petite, and not 'tiny'; the pair of them totally forgotten about the rest of the group. Thankfully the maid came in and put everyone into a room. Orihime got a room between Ichigo and Matsumoto, and she was over the moon about it. The rest of the guys got a room along the other side of the courtyard; or as they call it, the 'Men's side'.

"Oi, Ichigo, how's the girl's side?" Hisagi called.

"Ichigo, did they put you there cuz the girls like you or because you're one of them?" Ikkaku couldn't let the opportunity pass.

Ichigo chased the two of them out of the yard, but not before giving a pained look over at the petite girl whose back was to him. It wasn't missed either, by everyone in the courtyard except Rukia, who didn't pay the slightest attention to him as she ordered dinner to be made. Orihime heaved a sigh, how was she ever to gain Ichigo's heart with Rukia hanging around? She had thought this was her chance, but Rukia showed up once again. It was scary to admit to her self, but Orihime felt a pang of envy as Ichigo kept a watchful eye on Rukia all though his fight. It was just like the looks he gives her during all their battles…

* * *

Rukia had a ton of work to do, she knows she still have very little control over her dances, especially her fifth dance, which was just so hard for her to control. When she calls out her fifth dance, white butterfly, about a thousand butterflies of the purest white will surround her; and everything they touch will be instantly frozen, even if they just touched you for a second, you'll still get a nasty frostbite. But the thing is, Rukia just can't keep an eye on all her butterflies! They would land on things she doesn't want them to land when she lose even a little control over them, Ichigo and Hitsugaya both had quite a few frostbites already. It also consumes her spiritual energy way too much, she could only have them dancing around her for a few minutes. Hitsugaya still haven't worked on that dance with her yet, it was more of Byakuya's field then one straight forward attack like the kind Hitsugaya's used to.

All of them soon felt the pressure of work upon them, Hitsugaya had worked them very hard, on top of all the war time paper work they had. Rukia was banned from pulling all nighters, and she was put in a separate training room, much to her displeasure. Hitsugaya had noticed all the guys just stared at her as she danced with her butterflies, or any of her dances; they get distracted way too much. But it was after Rukia had lost control of a few loose butterflies and nearly frozen Matsumoto's 'things', did he decide she was too much of a distraction to be there at all times.

Orihime was also half concentrating with Rukia there; she would always look sadly at Ichigo as he stared stupidly at Rukia. Matsumoto would giggle none stop, Hisagi would make fun, Ikkaku would try to provoke Ichigo into a fight… as much as Hitsugaya wants to keep Rukia close and train with her (it was much more fun training with another ice zanpaktou, there's not that many in the soul society), he was forced to spend his day with 'idiots' and nights doing tiresome paper works.

"Ichigo, will you please pay attention? You need to focus your spiritual pressure! Right now I can feel you even with a concealment barrier on!" Hitsugaya scowled, why doesn't the stupid orange head get it? It's as easy as breathing, and Hitsugaya's spiritual pressure is just as powerful as Ichigo's; if not more powerful when he's mad.

"I AM PAING ATTENTION!" Ichigo screamed back, "I just have trouble once in a while; I'm not that stupid midget!"

"Do not call Rukia a midget! And she's certainly a lot smarter then you! Get back to work or I'll get her to give you lessons, she's not as patient as I am." Hitsugaya shouted back.

"She's less patient then you? Fine, I'll take her as a teacher now!"

* * *

Fuming, Hitsugaya got Rukia to train Ichigo. Ichigo soon found out Hitsugaya was right; Rukia was impatient with his slow progress as well as her own. She still concentrated on her fifth dance, but when Ichigo would let his spiritual energy flare even a little bit, he would get a bite mark from her little friends. If Shirayuki was a butterfly, then wouldn't all these butterflies be more like her bankai?

"Ichigo, I'm losing my patience," Rukia said after just five minutes, "if you don't start concentrating right now, I'll make you."

"If you can make me concentrate, go right ahead." Ichigo snapped back.

Without even looking up, Rukia muttered "Bakudo 61, six bars of light." And Rukia waved her palm towards a surprised Ichigo; who was quickly bonded by the six bars of light along his midsection.

"Hey, midget, remove this thing at once." Ichigo barked.

"Nope, you're going to stay here and work on focusing your spiritual energy until I'm satisfied. Lunch starts in half an hour, if I was you, I'll get started right now." Rukia again wasn't even looking at him, but trying to keep her butterflies within her sight.

"I'm a captain, so I order you to release me right away." Ichigo half screamed, he can't believe Rukia got him with a kido so easily.

"Nope, and no one will back you up on this either. Like I said, I'll leave you here for days if I have to, and there will be no one to feed you. This whole place only has five servants, and they're all my personal staff, they won't disobey me for you."

"Damn midget!" Ichigo yelled, but he tried to concentrate again.

Ichigo soon found this to be better then he had thought, he could stare at Rukia without anyone getting suspicious. (Actually, the only one who missed him staring at Rukia was Rukia) he could look at Rukia and make it look like he was concentrating (or spacing out, either way works), and Rukia was dancing around him with her beautiful zanpaktou, looking like a real snow princess.

"Kuchiki san is so beautiful." Orihime sighed, "I wish I could be more like her."

"Yeah, and the funny thing is, she doesn't realize it herself." Hisagi said, with a sigh too.

"Orihime, you are very beautiful. Boys love girls like us!" Matsumoto proudly stick out her chest even more.

"You're both very beautiful and nuts, not all boys fell for you two, me for example. Now mind explaining to me why you're staring at my lieutenant instead of training?" Hitsugaya's vein popped.

"Taichou! You're no fun, besides, don't you think she's beautiful?" Matsumoto giggled.

"Oh, I should get Yumichika here, he wanted to see the most beautiful zanpaktou for a long time now." Ikkaku for some odd reason also stopped to watch Rukia practice, and Ichigo making a total fool out of himself besides her.

"Oh, let's bring him here, it'll be more fun."

"He does need some practice."

"Let's get him, he can share a room with me." Ikkaku said.

"Please, oh great taichou?" Matsumoto whined.

"The more the merrier, right, taichou?" Hisagi grinned, not helping.

"Fine, if I let him come, will you all please get back to work?" Hitsugaya's vein was in danger of popping out of his forehead.

"Yay, I knew you would be so generous in the end!" Matsumoto danced away, cell phone already out.

"… Kill me…" was the only thing Hitsugaya could come up with.

* * *

Yumichika was not much of a help, he liked to sit on the side and marvel at Rukia's sword. And it seems Rukia enjoyed the flattering a lot, and the flirting too. Hitsugaya deeply regretted letting him come, good thing Rukia was still training.

Rukia's personal staff wasn't as stiff as the other Kuchiki servants; they were nice, like parents to Rukia. The cook had some wonderful dishes no one could complain about (Rukia wasn't much of a cook, as it turn out, the stuff she got for Hitsugaya during their therapy sessions were mainly made by her personal cook), Ichigo was allowed to eat even though he hadn't met Rukia's expectations; partly because he was near fainting from hunger.

At the end of their second week, there was much improvement in all of their fighting skills. Thought Ichigo and Ikkaku still fumed at the fact that somehow they just can't beat the boy genius; Ichigo thought he could get out of being 'under' Hitsugaya when he beats the boy genius; after all, he had beaten Byakuya.

"Ice typed zanpaktou is very rare, but a lot harder to beat, as it's an element zanpaktou. It can regenerate itself and doesn't consume a lot of spiritual pressure; Toshiro-sama can defend and attack at the same time; unlike any other zanpaktou, as expected of Toshiro-sama." Rukia proudly said as Ichigo lost for the fifth time that week.

"Shut up, midget, I can beat shorty here someday." Ichigo snapped, he hated to lose in front of Rukia, especially to the white haired, snobbish, pint sized captain.

"I am not a midget, and you're just a sore loser, you can't ever get a girlfriend like that." Rukia retorted, she's been getting lessons from Matsumoto, much to everyone's horror.

Ichigo blushed beet red, but Rukia didn't see, again. She had moved to hug Hitsugaya, who was very smug and smirked evilly at a steaming Ichigo. Ikkaku and Hisagi was about to laugh their head off, even Chad grinned.

"Shut up, midgets, I'll win next time." Ichigo snapped at Rukia and Hitsugaya, who was still in Rukia's embrace.

"Yeah, when hell freezes over." Rukia said with a super smug smile, and Ikkaku actually fell to the ground laughing, until Ichigo reminded him he can't beat Hitsugaya either.

Rukia had a lot of improvement too, she can now perform hado in the mid 80's without incantation; her dances lasted longer and she can finally get her butterflies to do what she wanted; although her swings still lacked power, and Hitsugaya can still blast her ice apart with his own very easily.

Hisagi was close to achieving his bankai, which was now Hitsugaya's main focus; he was very proud of the progress Hisagi had made under his reign. Matsumoto's bankai still preferred sake and sleep over to training, but like Matsumoto, seems to pull out a surprise every time there's an emergency.

Yumichika and Ikkaku still likes fighting for sport, rather then to win, but Ikkaku finally could activate his bankai faster, and Yumichika was slowly getting into the habit of releasing his zanpaktou. Although neither one of them could do a single kido, despite Hitsugaya and Rukia's best efforts.

Chad and Uryu showed very fast progress, they lasted longer and were quicker then before. Uryu also seems more at ease with fighting with shinigami now; Chad's blasts seem to be faster and more powerful then it was before. Hitsugaya was so very proud of his 'students', he wasn't a genius for nothing; maybe he can't get them to his level (even though some of Ikkaku had bankai for over 9 years now, and Ichigo doesn't even learn anything but swordsmanship) as fast he did himself, but there was certainly good progress. Every little bit will help in the war against Aizen.

Orihime, on the other hand, was slower then even Ichigo. (Which is saying a lot as Ichigo's progress seems to cease the more people tried to teach him) she can't seem to concentrate on the fighter, not does she want to fight. Her attention was always diverted, her feelings always mixed, and she just doesn't put her heart into training as much as the others do. (Yes, even Ichigo is trying his hardest, although it's hard to tell as he made so little progress)

* * *

No one knew what to do about her, it was obvious she was love struck and Ichigo's idiotic behavior was hurting her a lot. Rukia did notice the changes in Orihime, so one evening as Hitsugaya and Matsumoto helped her cleaning up (the two ice wielders made the whole training ground muddy), she voiced her concern to her two friends.

"Well, it's just a little psychological problem she has to over come first. She has a lot on her mind right now…" Matsumoto began slowly.

"You mean Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"Ur, what do you mean?" Matsumoto asked cautiously.

"You know what I mean, Orihime has a crush on Ichigo, and he has a crush on me; the idiot can't hide it too well, and he's hurting Orihime's feelings." Rukia said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Y-you know about that? About Ichigo having a major crush on you?" Hitsugaya stuttered.

"Well, yeah, the idiot wasn't exactly doing the best job in hiding it, was he?"

"We thought you didn't know! You never showed any sign you knew about his crush." Matsumoto openly marveled.

"I'm a much better actor then he is, and why does everyone automatically assume I'm stupid when it come to love?" Rukia asked.

"Well, if you knew this whole time, then that's a really good mask." Hitsugaya said, in as calm a voice as he can manage. The girl actually knew about Ichigo's crush, so she wasn't as stupid as everyone thought. And he was right, the girl knew more then she let on.

"So if you're not stupid when it comes to love, ignoring the fact Ichigo was very bad at hiding it, did you ever have boyfriends?" Matsumoto asked, testing this new found bit of gossip.

"Plenty of them asked me out before, but I never agreed to any of them. Well, I did go to a couple of dances and a few festivals with them…" Rukia tried to recall.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto nearly tripped in surprise. This was major news! And they knew for a fact Byakuya never knew about any of this. So the little Kuchiki wasn't as pure and innocent as they all assumed her to be. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto both stole a glance at each other, wondering if the other knew about this, from their faces, neither of them had a clue. Hitsugaya tried to figure out why Rukia didn't tell him, but then again, he was a guy; and girls don't tend to tell their guy friends things like that, no matter how close or none judgmental they may be.

"Who's 'they'?" Matsumoto was the first to ask.

"People off the streets, mainly from tenth, eleventh, and thirteenth division; but don't tell anyone, okay? They always ask me to keep it a secret once I turned them down." Rukia put a finger to her lips, and made a silence gesture.

Yeah, I can guess who they don't want this news to spread too. Hitsugaya mused to himself, he needs to talk to Byakuya about this, the old Kuchiki head was way too controlling; again Hitsugaya wondered if Rukia knew about it or not.

* * *

Out of the shadows a figure stepped out, it was none other then Orihime. She rocked on her heels for a few seconds, but decided to go though with it.

"Kuchiki san, may I talk to you for a second?"

Rukia looked a little confused, but she quickly masked it with a warm smile and the two of them walked towards a little clearing by the woods.

"Kuchiki san, I know how horrible I'm going to sound, but will you hear me out?" Orihime started rather shyly.

"Of course, Inoue, what is it?" Rukia walked slowly behind the taller girl.

"I, err, overheard your conversion with Ms. Rangiku and Hitsugaya Kun… and um, do you think I have a chance with Ichigo?"

Rukia was quite taken aback, but again she masked her face before Orihime turned around to face her. "Of course, Ichigo is a total idiot; you two will be so cute together. Can't wait to see what your kid's hair color will be like." She giggled.

Orihime blushed scarlet, but looked rather happy. "So, what should I do?"

"I don't know," Rukia admitted, "I never had to ask anyone out before! This is much more Matsumoto's area then mine. But I say you confront him, like the girls in all the shojo Manga does."

_Manga? _Orihime thought to herself, it was worth a try. "So there's nothing going on between you and Ichigo?"

"Nope, absolutely nothing. And never will; that idiot give me a heart attack almost every time I see him. Don't worry, I'm behind you one hundred percent of the way!" Rukia slapped a high five with Orihime who looked really encouraged.

"Thanks Kuchiki san," Orihime looked shy for a second, "M-may I call you Rukia Chan from now on? I-I feel like we're really good friends."

"Of cou--"Rukia started, but a twig snapping behind her alerted her.

"Rukia Sama, you cannot let this human girl call you that." Rukia's face paled, it was her 'governess', Lady Mei; a suck up old maid her brother had hired to mind her 'behaviors'.

The evil look lady Mei sent Orihime drove the shy girl to step back, and with a scared look, ran back to the house. Rukia was now alone with Lady Mei, who began yet another lecture on 'a lady of her rank's behavior'.

Unknown to both of them, Hitsugaya was watching from the shadows. He heaved a heavy sigh, time to talk to Byakuya on his behavior towards Rukia.

* * *

a/n: Not much happened in this one, sorry. i wanted to make it more fun...

Next chapter will be around the same lenght, sorry to all those who like short chapters. This one will be around 15 chapters? maybe? i'll try to update once or twice a week.

and this will make me sound sooooo stupid, but what AU?

PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4 White Petals

A/N: well, here is the fourth chappy, sorry for not updating for so long. i got the writer's block and i got an english final to study for (lame excuse, i know, that was last week). ENJOY, AND REVIEW! i turn the anon on yesterday.

Benehime and others: don't worry, this is not ichiHime, hate that couple!

Many thanks to all those who reviewed! I'm so happy! and it doesn't matter when you review as long as you leave one!

Disclimer:i do not own bleach, or i would have Shiro and Ruki tongue wrestle by now instead of writing about it. But what's the fun in that?

* * *

I recently realized i should add a chapter title here...

Hitsugaya had enough with the training, so he decided to play Ikkaku's game and randomly select people for fights. No matter what their level maybe, he soon regretted it as the names he pulled out read Ikkaku and Rukia.

Rukia didn't seem afraid, she promised not to disappoint him. And Ikkaku was too absorbed in happiness over the fact he gets to fight first to notice Rukia's expression. It was determination, and not a trace of fear, despite their large power difference.

The others circled around them, watching the two of them as they readied themselves in the middle of the training ground. Ikkaku, no longer hiding his bankai, released it the moment Hitsugaya blew his whistle; but he had miscalculated Rukia's power, she was nowhere to be seen as he swung the huge ax towards her.

A moment later, Rukia appeared right behind him, raising her sword, which was now a pure white. She had flash stepped the moment she sensed Ikkaku about to release his bankai, and released her sword as she doubled back to where Ikkaku was. Stabbing the ground at seven different places, Rukia sent waves of white ice to a very surprised Ikkaku.

Ikkaku realized he underestimated Rukia the moment she disappeared, he cursed his stupidity, Rukia wasn't one to take a fight for sports! She would never fight him head on, (like a certain stupid orange head might) but she'll probably lose in the end, it just determines how long she lasts. With a start, Ikkaku jumped into the air as waves of ice now covered where he was a second ago. Not bad, Kuchiki, Ikkaku thought happily to himself, this might just be fun after all.

Hitsugaya looked on with a satisfied grin; she was playing her cards perfectly right now, to win against Ikkaku was near impossible, but it'll be enough to last for as long as she could.

Rukia then sent blasts of hado towards Ikkaku, mingled with her ice so he can't avoid them with his sword. Soon butterflies were charging at Ikkaku's axes like an angry swum of bees, covering the edges with thick, thick layers of ice. Ikkaku cursed, he now had to clean the ice off (which proved harder then he had though with all those butterflies coming back all the time) his sword before he can charge at Rukia again. Rukia was a long range fighter, and keeping her distance from a fight crazy short ranger like Ikkaku was a very wise move.

"I don't get it, why isn't Ikkaku fighting back?" Ichigo asked, earning a snort from Uryu.

"Did I beat anything into that berry head of yours?" Hitsugaya sighed, Ichigo glared at him. "Rukia doesn't have the spiritual pressure captains have, so she's ending this as fast as she can. Her kido and flash step both exceed Ikkaku, and as long as she keeps her distance, she's safe and she can attack. Ikkaku's only problem left is to get close to her, then he will win; Rukia can't fight close ranged, and she won't last more then a few seconds against Ikkaku like that."

"Yep, plus according to the rules, when a captain class releases bankai on another shinigami of lower rank, his or her captain may interfere with their bankai too." Matsumoto said surprising everyone with her knowledge of rules, Hitsugaya was half sure she didn't even know they exist.

"Hmm, so you're telling me Rukia had this all planned out? And everyone knows except this unsightly orange top here?" Yumichika mused.

"Shut up!"

Rukia had again flash stepped all around Ikkaku to attack him, who held up his bankai to avoid them all. There was a huge tick mark on his bold head; the little girl was getting the better of him! Swinging his blade high up into the air, Ikkaku brought it down on Rukia, finally getting into close range; Rukia, seeing the huge blade coming her way, used her sword to block it, and was pushed back several feet.

Dust rose in clouds screening them, Rukia and Ikkaku both struggles to win. Ice scattered all around them, butterflies and spikes of whiteness engulfed with kido blasted apart by Ikkaku's knife. Coldness was washing over them like waves of sea water; Rukia was doing her best just to stand on her two feet, while her opponent was laughing like a mad man, waving his knife and ax towards her all the time.

The end was rather quick, Rukia was tiring, and she slipped on a patch of damp grass. Ikkaku took the moment and held his oversized knife against her throat. The dust settled, the ice stopped soaring though the air; Rukia dropped her sword and held up her two hands in surrender, and Ikkaku grinned with blood coming down his face.

* * *

"Very good, you lasted for over ten minutes against a bankai." Hitsugaya let out a little smile, picking up her sword.

"Impressive, Rukia, I didn't know you were this good!" Ichigo said as he gives Rukia a crushing bear hug.

"Ichigo!" Rukia gasped, "You're crushing the wind out of me! I'm getting more hurt from your hug."

"Kurosaki, get off her." Hitsugaya said in annoyance, "and of course she's good, I trained her for the past half a year personally."

Rukia gives Hitsugaya a bow, and let him take care of her small cuts and bruises. Hitsugaya's hands were so gentle with her she hardly felt any pain as white blue lights of kido glowed over her injuries.

Ichigo tried to distract himself from this tender scene by making fun of Ikkaku, along with Yumichika and Hisagi. Kira was the only one who cared enough to use healing kido to heal the cuts and the heavy frost bite on his body. But it seemed the frostbites that would normally done some serious harm to anyone's muscle had almost no effect on the baldie's body, much to Rukia's surprise and displeasure.

The three humans were all watching the scene unfold before them with great interest, Chad even had a little grin, and while Orihime was giggling none stop. Uryu just rolled his eyes at Ichigo; Matsumoto had disappeared to the shadow of a tree, and was taking a 'well earned nap' as she puts it, when Hitsugaya kicked her awake.

* * *

The next match didn't have Matsumoto again, but she was forced to watch Uryu and Yumichika fight; Uryu appeared to gain the upper hand until Yumichika got so annoyed with a 'unsightly human' winning he released his zanpaktou, and sucked Uryu dry. The match was forfeited as the two of them was engaged into an argument over shinigami and Quincy's clothing; both side believing they are superior.

The third match was between Kira and Hisagi, it was an endless struggle, but Hisagi won in the end with a three hundred pound zanpaktou tipped against Kira's heart. Matsumoto had to be kicked awake again. Rukia was also dozing off, but Hitsugaya didn't have the heart to kick her awake, instead he just gently shook her awake. It drew much whistling and complains, mainly from the now grumpy Matsumoto.

* * *

The fight after that was unfortunately, between Hitsugaya and Ichigo. Both of them wasted no time in activating their bankai; standing fifty feet in mid air, Hitsugaya with his ice wings and Ichigo in his black coat, they clashed.

Ichigo swung his sword around in a wide circle to release his moon fang, a black crescent of energy soared towards Hitsugaya, who blocked it quite easily with his wings. Their sword locked the next second, both struggling to push the other one down; Hitsugaya's left had moved onto his blade, holding Ichigo in midair, Ichigo grinned as Hitsugaya struggled with the force. Hitsugaya didn't seem fazed at all, lifting just one finger off his blade, he released the weakest hade there is: thrust.

But the thrust was enough to push Ichigo back for a second, long enough for Hitsugaya to freeze Ichigo's arm with his 'tail'; swinging the Ichigo now frozen to the tip of his tail, Hitsugaya slammed Ichigo into a nearby tree.

"Ooh, that has to hurt." Rukia said with a wicket grin. "Somehow I never manage to pull that off before, gotta learn from Toshiro-sama."

"Got a tail too?" Ikkaku smirked, only to earn a kick to the shin; Rukia had loosened up around the new captain somewhat, much to Ikkaku's displeasure/horror.

Ichigo had recovered from the blow fairly quickly, he charged at Hitsugaya again with his reitsu dropping from his sword like black ink. His moon-fang had left bite marks on the trees all around, the only one Hitsugaya couldn't avoid was shielded with his wings; Ichigo silently cursed, his hands was numb from the ice that was constantly covering him. They locked swords again, this time Hitsugaya let out a powerful hado to force Ichigo back.

Getting hit by one of Hitsugaya's spells was never a funny thing, even hado number one is powerful when it's released by someone with Hitsugaya's powers; he wasn't called a prodigy for nothing, after all. Ichigo had learned that quite a few times, but it seems he had developed a mental block for them, which intensified over time. It started with him dodging them like ceros, now he somehow can't even see them coming! Ichigo was getting really annoyed; the worst thing was Hitsugaya hadn't called out a fire-based spell that was most common in attacks, but an ice-based spell that made his whole body shaking with cold and wetness. This was getting sillier and sillier; Hitsugaya wasn't winning with moves, but literarily freezing him to death!

Regaining some of his composure while sliding back a few yards in midair, Ichigo pulled down his mask; he thought he heard a few people gasp below him, but he didn't care, right now he needs to beat the squirt in front of Rukia, here and NOW!

Moving a lot quicker now, Hitsugaya and Ichigo circled each other, each unsuccessful in getting a real bite off each other. The black and white reitsu crashed into each other so fast the watchers below them had trouble following their movements.

Flash steps, clash, dodge, stab, a hado carefully aimed, dodge, stab, stab, clash, clash, flash step away, clash again…

Clash, dodge, a hado, stab, clash, flash step, waves of ice, waves of black, stab, stab, flash step, dodge, clash again…

Rukia had her eyes fixed on the two figures above her, drawing yin and yang signs with their reitsu. Boys, she though, always has to fight like they have something to prove.

Matsumoto was finally taking interest in the battle, she may be promoted, but she was still as loyal to Hitsugaya as Rukia; the way the carrot top was fighting scared her slightly, but she felt pride as Hitsugaya held his own firmly against Ichigo's ultimate power, which had taken down TWO vastro lordes. She thought it was quite adorable how Ichigo was probably doing his best to beat Hitsugaya for Rukia. Oh the drama, Matsumoto wondered how she would live without it.

While Rukia and Matsumoto are both unconcerned for the two fighting figures above, the rest of the watchers are edge already. They couldn't understand why the two lieutenants (well, one ex-lieutenant) of Hitsugaya wasn't slightly concerned over this brutal fight that seemed a little overboard compared to the other fights. Kira and Hisagi was silently admiring Hitsugaya's skills, he had obviously trained his subordinates well, to get people like Rukia Kuchiki and Matsumoto Rangiku to trust and follow him like that; they both made a mental note to learn from the child prodigy.

But still they worried, it seemed odd to them how Hitsugaya and Ichigo was fighting at full power like this, a scene they haven't seen since the winter war half a year ago. The mask still scared Orihime a bit, but she trusted Ichigo to win, he had never failed before with the mask on. Kira, Uryu, Chad and Yumichika are all shaking slightly, their feet slipping slightly from the intense pressure that was echoing and pushing all around them.

"Hey, it's almost lunch time already! Can you guys hurry up and finish this stupid fight already?" Matsumoto complained after a while, the two captains above was still clashing and banging loudly.

"Yeah, you don't have to prove anything; we know you're both strong and manly." Rukia teased.

The two fighters locked swords, they sneered at each other. Hitsugaya flapped his wing just slightly to give him an extra edge, Ichigo gathered spiritual particles under his feet to steady himself.

"You heard her," Hitsugaya smirked, "she knows you exist, especially since you like to stick your nose into her business so much. There really is no need to pull a hollow's mask over you to prove anything."

"What's your point?" Ichigo hissed.

"I mean," Hitsugaya said in a very slow manner, like the way an adult might speak to a three year old. "Rukia knows you're there, because you butt into all her private business. Pulling out a hollow's mask won't impress her or change the image you already left."

"I do not butt into her business, we're best friends, so I have a right to know things her 'boss' wouldn't know." Ichigo sneered, still pushing at his blade; it really was a shame Hitsugaya had a super long sword as well. "And my image in her is fine; she's not scared of me or my inner hollow."

Hitsugaya's reitsu flared dangerously, it seems to go double at Ichigo's every word; he throws Ichigo off balance quite easily. Waves of ice and kido mixed with dense reitsu charged at Ichigo, who was again slammed into a nearby tree.

"She's my best friend, Kurosaki." He hissed dangerously, "We both acknowledge it, ask her if you want. But I'm not talking about your hollow, her image of you isn't built on that, it's built on your actions." He pulsed to hit Ichigo with yet another wave of ice, "And she's not as stupid as you think she is."

Ichigo's reply was just hitting Hitsugaya with all he's got. It was getting ugly and more personal as they tried their best to stare each other down. Rukia looked from the ground with some worry; did she push it too much? But Hitsugaya was acting funny though, he normally would never get into a petty argument with Ichigo.

Hitsugaya's sword now made every effort to stab, slash and cut at Ichigo. Unfortunately for Ichigo, whatever Hitsugaya stabs will be frozen solid in less then a second. Those annoying kidos shooting his way aren't exactly helping Ichigo either, God he hated kido, it was even worse then the ones Rukia always use to make him 'behave'.

Clash, their swords met midair, the metal sparked as both captains unleashed their reitsu onto their swords; swinging his long sword in a wide arc, Hitsugaya again summoned Hyōrinmaru again; this time ten pillars of ice shot out from the ground, Ichigo came to a halt, narrowly avoiding two of them. Annoyed, Ichigo swung his blade at Hitsugaya again, hoping to land a hit. It was the wrong move, Ichigo loosened his grip on his mask for the fraction of a second, and it cracked.

Ichigo's eyes widened, but he didn't even have time to swear as Hitsugaya took the opportunity and took a stab at Ichigo, who narrowly avoided it. The stab had touched his sleeve, just barely, but his sleeve had frozen solid and with the slightest movement, shattered. Ichigo braved himself for a fight without his mask, now completely off, with a pissed off Hitsugaya.

Rukia had gotten up from where she was sitting, it was over, the only reason Ichigo lasted longer then usual was because of the mask; now that's undone, Hitsugaya will win in no time. True enough, by the time she finally woke up Matsumoto (who had dozed off again, due to boredom), Hitsugaya had pinned Ichigo to a tree trunk with his ice tail. It was rather funny, it looked like Hitsugaya had another arm; but Ichigo was scowling worse then ever, what had set off Hitsugaya like that?

Letting Ichigo go, or rather, cut off the tip of his tail, leaving Ichigo to disentangle himself from the remaining ice; Hitsugaya landed on the ground safely, releasing his bankai and smirking towards the steaming fellow captain.

"Yay!" Rukia squealed as she came to a halt in front of Hitsugaya and give him a big, warm hug. "That was awesome! Wow, you're are amazing, you know." She beamed at the victorious Hitsugaya, and gives him a small kiss on the check.

Hitsugaya blushed into a ripe tomato at the contact of her lips and his hot checks. He doesn't know why he was blushing like that, Rukia had given him victory kisses before… but his thoughts was interrupted harshly with the high pitched squeal of Matsumoto; she looks like she was having too much fun.

"Oh, how cute!" Matsumoto squealed like a fan girl again, this was too good to be true. "Rukia kissed taichou, and he's blushing!"

"Matsumoto, calm down, it was just a congratulation kiss. You would know what it is if you practice a little more." Hitsugaya retorted, trying to hide his-- well, he doesn't even know what feelings he was trying to cover up.

"How mean, taichou, you're just embarrassed! Besides, it's not my abilities that doesn't win me a 'victory kiss', it's just I don't have a cute little boyfriend who supports me so loyally like Rukia."

"We're NOT A COUPLE!" Hitsugaya and Rukia screamed at the same time, this only caused Matsumoto to squeal even more.

"Hate to break it up, but got any injuries?" Hisagi cut in.

It was then Hitsugaya looked down and saw the golden light emitting from Rukia's hands, she had been healing his cuts without him even realizing it! _God,_ he though, _I need to get a grip!_

"All taken care of." Rukia smiled proudly.

* * *

Orihime was working hard on Ichigo, who had some really serious frost bites that was damaging his muscles dangerously. Hitsugaya and he hadn't really gone all out despite their bankai and Ichigo's mask, that is, until Rukia's little comment drove the both of them insane. The others were only aware that the two of them obviously said something to drive each other nuts, but what was it?

Ichigo was underneath Orihime's bubble, his body being restored. Ikkaku was laughing so hard at him his ribs felt like it was going to burst. Thank goodness Orihime's bubble had grown stronger over time, or there will be another nasty fight going on.

Kira and Hisagi watched as the girls fuss over Hitsugaya and the guys poke fun at Ichigo, they admired Hitsugaya more and more; how in the world did the kid learn to charm girls like that? And Rukia Kuchiki of all people! She was one of the coldest and hottest girls in the entire Seireitei; it was quite common knowledge among the other squads (they didn't dare to let the news spread to 6th division, and later, 10th). The little captain was just a genius, and not just because he mastered bankai in five years and got a captain's position as soon as one was available to him.

Ichigo hadn't heard what Rukia was whispering and squealing to Hitsugaya, but he saw the hug and the kiss. And he was furious; Hitsugaya had made a fool out of him yet again, and right in front of Rukia too! God he wanted to teach the little whitey a lesson so bad, but knows he probably just get his butt kicked yet again. It was truly annoying how he had beating Kenpatchi and Byakuya, but couldn't do anything against the shorty that was flashing the smuggest smile in the world to him (Ichigo thought he should be fined for acting so smug).

Luckily, lunch distracted all of them, well, at least just the physical and the mouth; everybody was quiet during lunch (for once), partly because the food had stuffed their mouth, but more because each was engulfed in their thoughts.

_They look so cute together!_ The same thought flashed through Orihime and Matsumoto's minds as they saw Hitsugaya take care of Rukia (she refused to eat the vegetable, and Hitsugaya was again force feeding her).

_Damn that shorty! _Ichigo cursed to himself for the ten thousands time that day, _how dare he force feed Rukia? And Rukia is my best friend! And what did that damn shorty mean? And this meatball is delicious!_

_Ichigo got his ass kicked again, and he's beating Kenpatchi taichou and Kuchiki taichou before, so maybe getting my ass kicked by the mini captain isn't the worst yet. _Ikkaku thought as he gulfed down his food so fast and loud he would've been banned if he was ever under any Kuchiki other then Rukia.

_Stupid midget, how could you let this dork force feed you? Book wormy half pint_. Ichigo scowled, or just scowled deeper. _I should ask Rukia about that best friend thing, and then we can laugh at the stupid midget together, and…_

_This potato is wonderful…_ Chad thought.

_God, how can this girl not eat her vegetables? I feel like her brother! Not that I want to, and purely because she can be a pain sometimes, and we're JUST friends, and I have to put up with her even more if she was my sister, maybe that's why Byakuya avoids her so much…_ Hitsugaya reasoned to himself.

_I hate paper work…_ Hisagi and Kira thought almost together, (after lunch they have an hour of break, for paper works).

_Wish I had my jam and fish sauce with me; it'll go wonderful with the double baked potato._ Orihime smiled long fully.

_Orihime looks so cute today… _Uryu thought, grinning slightly to his food.

_Ichigo fought better today, I'd better put that into my report. _Rukia thought between bites, _I hate vegetables, can't believe Toshiro-sama is forcing them on me! And Ichigo was so rude today, how dare he pull down that mask and fight like an animal with Toshiro-sama?_

_Rukia needs more discipline, but I really don't want to force it on her; it might destroy her innocence… _Hitsugaya forced another spoonful of vegetables into Rukia's mouth (and yes, he's using _his_ spoon, not Rukia's).

_Maybe I'll ask Kurosaki Kun today, right before training starts again. Right, I'll ask him if he likes me today, I should ask Matsumoto for some advice before hand. And I should pick out a skirt that will look good on me… _Orihime thoughts drifted back to Ichigo as he stuffed his face.

_I'll ask Orihime out today, Ichigo is completely absorbed in Kuchiki san, so it should be safe._ Uryu decided.

* * *

After lunch, Hitsugaya announced because both he and Rukia cannot stand the hot weather, the one hour break has been extended to three hours. Since he assumed none of them wanted to be training under two stressing and frustrated trainers.

That day was a lucky one for Rukia, her third seat had taken on a lot of her work; and since she can't help being PMS under hot weather, she decided to start training early and gets the place cooled with her ice so Hitsugaya would feel better; he had been under a ton of stress lately.

So when there was just fifteen minutes left to their break, Rukia left Hitsugaya to finish the rest of his captain's report, she went out to a shaded area and activated her shikai. The ice soon covered the whole place, finally letting her breath normally again.

Ichigo had gone out early too; he had followed Rukia when she left early. There was no one at the training grounds yet, and Ichigo really wanted the time alone with her. But Ichigo is Ichigo after all; he didn't even feel Orihime following him out to the training grounds, quite a distance behind him.

Orihime had followed Ichigo simply because she didn't realize Rukia was already at the training grounds. But since she can't shunpo, she was forced to follow Ichigo slowly. This was her chance, while no one was at the training grounds, she would confess; hopefully Ichigo would give her a shot. Orihime daydreamed, letting her mind wonder.

Uryu wasn't in the courtyard at all, he had gone to the woods to one side of the training grounds (the last place Hitsugaya and Ichigo's fight hadn't completely destroyed in their fight for miles around.), he found some rather pretty flowers, they weren't roses, but they'll do. He wants to confront Orihime outside the courtyard, alone, and away from that crazy big bust woman (Matsumoto scared Uryu slightly that morning with her squeal; he hadn't seen Rukia give Hitsugaya a kiss).

Using shunpo, Ichigo reached Rukia instantly. Rukia smiled when she saw him, but she didn't stop in her effort to turn the vast training grounds into a freezer. Ichigo sat on a stone behind her, watching her stab the ground after her second dance and sending showers of ice over the empty space in front of her.

"Rukia, who's your best friend?" Ichigo asked out of the blue, Rukia stopped in her efforts to cool herself and stared at Ichigo.

"Come again?"

"Who's your best friend?"

Rukia paused, wondering how she would say this, it was embarrassing. "Toshiro-sama."

Ichigo's face turned pale, "WHAT? THAT MIDGET IS YOUR BEST FRIEND?!"

"Ichigo, calm down, okay?" Rukia said gingerly, Ichigo looked livid. "He's my best friend because he understands me the best. Don't be jealous! And that's Hitsugaya taichou to you."

"Je-jealous? As if! I. Am. Not. Jealous of that midget." Ichigo hissed, not convincing anyone.

"Yes you are!"

"No I am not!"

"Are too,"

"Are not."

"Are too."

The next thing Rukia felt was Ichigo's lips pressed firmly on hers. Her eyes widened in pure shock as she stared at the face she knew too well, and now too close. She felt Ichigo's large hands cup her face gently, trying to get her to kiss him back. It was a gently, smooth kiss so filled with love Rukia found herself half giving in; she struggled, this was so unlike her! Ichigo pulled her close as he felt her lips relax and soften, he tilted his head a little to the right; but Rukia had regained her composure, she can't give in no matter how good the kiss is; she starts to push against Ichigo, who stood firm, ignoring the little fists now pounding his chest…

"AHHHHH!" an angry and shocked scream sounded from behind Rukia. The two of them quickly broke apart, Rukia felt herself jump five feet into the air. She whirled around to see an angry and hurt Orihime glaring at her.

"O-Orihime! W-what are you— Rukia struggled to find words.

"You evil BITCH! You liar, you WHORE!" Orihime seems to lose her sweet side as her jealousy and despair took over her body and mind. She let go of the careful composure she always had, her reitsu flared, not high, but like angry flames.

"Orihime, I can explain— Rukia began again.

"No, LIAR! I don't know why I ever listened to a whore like you!" Orihime's chest huffed as she was so angry she had forgotten to breath.

"Orihime, I know why you're mad—

"Ha, as if! Well Kuchiki san, I can't believe this!" Orihime starts to sob slightly.

"Orihime, you don't understand, I—

"Oh, I know all right. It's always been you, Ichigo's attention never wavered from you for a SECOND!" her voice was funny now, half way between a sob and a scream.

Ichigo cut in then, "Inoue, what's wrong?"

"I LOVE YOU, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG! I—Orihime lost her voice, she broke down into sobs. Behind her, Uryu stood with a twisted expression; it was a mixture of anger, sadness and disappointment.

But before he could move forward with a handful of flowers, Matsumoto had kneeled down next to Orihime and wrapped her arm around Orihime's shaking shoulder. Everyone, including the maids and cook, had felt four different flares of reitsu and heard some screaming, so they've come to check the commotion.

Rukia was still shaking in anger and confusion; Orihime bursting out like that was so not like her, and Ichigo had KISSED her! She let out a yelp and jumped away from Ichigo, who had a rather hurt expression, he didn't even seem to notice Orihime's confession.

Seeing Rukia jump, Hitsugaya quickly walked over to her and wrapped his arm protectively around her; Rukia was trembling slightly, she buried her face in his shoulder, Hitsugaya heard a soft sob escaping her lips.

"What happened, Ichigo what did you do?" Matsumoto demanded, her usual cherry voice gone.

"Why do you automaticly assume it's something i did?" Ichigo rounded on her.

"Obviously it's got something to do with you, and Uryu too, what's with the flowers?" Hisagi raised his eye brows at the handful of wildflowers Uryu and picked.

"Um, these are… um, nothing." Uryu stuttered.

"Why is it obviously my fault? Orihime snuck up on me and start screaming her head off at me, and Rukia—

"I want to know this too." Hitsugaya looked up, still holding Rukia. "What did you do to Rukia?"

"I-I-, NOTHING!" Ichigo shouted.

"We-we were jut-just talking and then h-he k-kissed me…" Rukia murmured between sobs.

Hitsugaya's reitsu sky rocketed, Ichigo felt like taking a step back under his glare; Matsumoto look dumbfounded, Ikkaku and Yumichika both dog whistled, but quickly stopped when Hitsugaya shot his death glare towards them.

Uryu pushed his glasses, not knowing what to say. Chad frowned under his hair, "Ichigo, why did you do that?"

Ichigo just stared around, trying to find an ally, but everyone just stared back at him. He grew uneasy, why the hell were they all staring like that?

"I don't know what made me do it! It's, it just sort of—happened."

If Hitsugaya wasn't so busy petting Rukia's back and soothing her, he would've gone bankai on Ichigo already. The maids and the cook look outraged the 'kid' had kissed their little princess and now wants to wiggle his way out of trouble.

Tension grew, reitsu flared out from different directions and clashed together, you could literarily cut the air with a zanpaktou. Everyone looked from one to the other, daring each other to make a move. Rukia stopped sobbing, but she still had her face buried in Hitsugaya's robes; Orihime was still sobbing on the ground, Matsumoto was rocking her slightly, even she was unsure of what to do.

And then there was an all too familiar reitsu appearing out of nowhere, a swish of white haori and the flowing of a green scare—our dear Byakuya taichou had decided to pay his first visit, could he have picked a worse—I mean better—time?

"What seems to be the problem here?" his cold voice rang out from behind Rukia.

"We're umm, well err…" Matsumoto tried her best to come up with a decent excuse.

"Training here doesn't usually involve two crying girls and Hitsugaya taichou holding my sister like that, do they?" the black haired captain said icily, it's a wonder how his zanpaktou is pretty pink flower petals and not ice.

"N-no, taichou, today's sorta special." Matsumoto murmured, afraid to look into her fellow captain's eye, she wasn't sure if she'll burst out laughing or faint.

Byakuya stopped paying attention to her, he turned to look (well, it's more like a death glare) at Hitsugaya. "Hitsugaya taichou, if you'll kindly let go of my sister, I would like to speak with you."

The white hair male didn't know where in the world did he find the courage/stupidity to do what he did next—he hugged Rukia tighter, and to everyone shock (their jaw seriously dropped, not that Hitsugaya had the time to notice) he landed a soft kiss on her forehead, before letting her go.

Our over protective big brother's eyes flashed dangerously, his fingers twitched towards his sword; but the Kuchiki noble is the head of the mean and iciest clan, he settled for shooting laser beams with his eyes (almost). Without a backward glance, the older Kuchiki walked back to the line of courtyards, Rukia hurried her servants to follow. Hitsugaya sighed at his own stupidity and followed the over bearing captain silently out of sight.

Rukia petted her cloth to get the dust off, then masked whatever she was feeling with the infamous 'Kuchiki face' and walked out of sight as well. Orihime was still in Matsumoto's embrace (how she could stand those _things_ hugging her in that heat was beyond anyone), Uryu and ran off to avoid the evil grins the guys were giving him. Ichigo was sulking around, trying to digest what had just happened with his, according to Rukia, 'tiny' brain.

* * *

"Hitsugaya taichou, would you mind telling me what had just happened?" Byakuya asked the moment the sanji doors closed behind Hitsugaya (they shooed the servants away).

"Cliff notes version: Ichigo kissed Rukia against her will, which was saw by Inoue, who thought Rukia lied to her about not liking Ichigo; Inoue then confessed to Ichigo, which was over heard by Ishida, who apparently was planning to confess to Inoue. Are you following any of this?" Hitsugaya said in a rush.

The taller man frowned slightly, "Hitsugaya taichou, are you telling me all this drama has been going on when they should be training singly mindedly?"

"Kuchiki taichou, they are progressing very well; Rukia lasted nearly ten minutes against Ikkaku's bankai, she's using strategies and the environments to her advantages now. Everyone else also had great improvements, as I said in my reports. Except Kurosaki and the human girl." The mini genius rolled his eyes.

"I heard you are holding matches today to test them, have I missed them?"

"Yes, we held them this morning, Kuchiki taichou. Rukia lost to Ikkaku, but without any major injuries and lasted a long time. Uryu and Yumichika fought well, but forfeited after I stopped their stupid argument. Kira against Hisagi was a tough one both showing improvements, Hisagi won. The next was Ichigo against me, it lasted until lunch time; Ichigo's not showing any improvements, in fact I think he's getting worse! I beat him with his mask on; he was distracted and seems to like verbal fighting better." The younger captain said with dismay and anger, it was an insult to him too; people always get better under his watch!

"I see," the sixth division captain said slowly, "so there are still a few left, I want some improvement in Kurosaki and the human girl soon."

"Inoue won't get any improvements at all, she can't hurt people and she's never paying attention to the fight. Kurosaki, well I can do nothing about his slow nature." Hitsugaya spat out.

"See to it that they do Hitsugaya taichou. Good day." And he turned to leave before Hitsugaya remembered he wanted to talk to Byakuya the day before.

"Kuchiki taichou, wait a minute…"

Byakuya turned back, and waiting for whatever it is the younger captain had to say; he wasn't very happy with the 'kiss' but he decided not to dwell on it at the minute.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about Rukia." Hitsugaya began.

"What about her, if it has anything to do with Kurosaki, I want to hear it now." Byakuya threatened.

"I don't really know how to say this."

"Just say it as plainly as you can, Hitsugaya taichou." The other captain was getting irrupted now.

"Very well, then, Kuchiki taichou. Back. Off." Hitsugaya said icily, looking straight into the Kuchiki's eyes.

Byakuya thought he was at a loss for words; the little captain who just _**KISSED**_ his sister wants _him_ to_ back off_? The younger captain's face was completely serious; they stared at each other for a few seconds before Byakuya found his voice again: "Hitsugaya taichou, you have no rights to tell me what to do."

"Actually, as Rukia's best friend and her best interest at heart, I do." Hitsugaya retorted, for a second he thought Byakuya was going to skin him alive, send him to hell and kill him again. If Hitsugaya thought the glare he received when he kissed Rukia was laser beams, then the look he was getting now is nothing short of Gama ray.

"Let me make myself clear: she is my sister and I have every right to interfere with her life." Man, why didn't Byakuya have an ice zanpaktou, then it would just be him talking, and the opponent would freeze from sheer fear.

"Your shadow is constantly cast in her life!" Hitsugaya was nearly shouting now, "that 'lady' you hired for her? Guess what, she's killing Rukia, the real Rukia. She grew up on the streets; she doesn't have that noble aura and no matter how much you pressure her she never will!"

"Watch your tongue, Hitsugaya taichou; I'm doing what's best for her."

"I'm telling you all this because you are not doing what's best for her!" he huffed for a second before continuing "the real Rukia is fun and energetic and peppy and happy! Did she ever show any of those emotions around you? Or your clan, or your house? You and your precious are killing off the real Rukia, and she's nothing but a soul; so when she snaps, and she will—she'll just die or go insane from your rule."

"Do. Not. Speak to me like that ever again!" Byakuya was doing all he can to maintain his calm exteriors; his inside was burring with fury. Maybe that's why he doesn't have an ice zanpaktou, he's about to burst like a bomb.

"What, you know I'm telling the truth!" Hitsugaya's voice rose higher now, "You know that Rukia is isolated and lonely because of you, did she ask to be adopted? No, did it help her? No, you kept your promise to your wife but you crushed Rukia."

Byakuya didn't say a word, so Hitsugaya went on. "Did you know Rukia has nightmares almost every night? She's scared to death of you, of the clan, of what others think of her; she's scare of Aizen and the time when he shoved a hole in her chest! Do you even care? You would choose everything before Rukia, to you; she's nothing more then a dream. You kept her for your wife and your love to your wife; she could be a piece of garbage for all you care but you would name it Kuchiki for your wife. Rukia is nothing more then a hold on the past for you." his cheeks were red now, his eyes were also flashing in anger; Hitsugaya glared back at the dumbfounded head of Kuchiki clan.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?"

"I do care about her, I saved her many times." Byakuya defended himself.

"Right, and how much about her do you know, do you care?"

"She likes bunnies."

"The only people who don't know she likes bunnies are the humans who can't see her." Hitsugaya hissed.

"A Kuchiki isn't afraid of anything."

"She's not a Kuchiki, no one sees her as a Kuchiki either. I don't know why that girl would try that hard to please you, you never notice anyway!"

"She's letting her emotions ruining her."

"She's a girl too!" Hitsugaya shouted, "She's human too! You can't control her human instinct like that!"

"Silence, I will not have a boy teach me how to rule my family." Byakuya was fuming with anger.

"Well this _boy_ knows more about your _family_ then you do! God, I've been friends with her for half a year and I care more about her then you!"

Byakuya turned on his heels and marched out of the room without a backward glance, Hitsugaya stood there for a few minutes gasping to him; he had a lot of nerve that day!

Then came a knock at the door, Rukia appeared with an extremely happy expression on her face.

"Toshiro-sama, guess what? They found Hinamori san!" she said with an excited voice.

"After six month they finally found her body?" the boy genius asked, astonished.

Rukia smiled at him, her eyes sparkled with happiness. "No, they found her alive; she's in fourth division right now."

* * *

Haha, surprise! I promised this to Shia like half a month ago, can't believe she's a hinamori fan...

Well, next chapter will be fun, it'll take me around a week and a half to finish it.

I guess Orihime was really ooc this time, but warning: i HATE hinamori and Orihime, HATE them! so don't expect them to turn out super good, especially Hinamori, how dare she stole Shiro from Rukia?

can't believe how long my chapter are, should i cut them in half from now on?

anyway, i'm done rambling, REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5 White Heart

Oh, I know, I know, this is super late and I deserve bankai from you all. But I didn't get the candy from fifth division until just a couple of days ago! (Lame excuse) so this is for Sweetie taichou and Rebecca fukutaichou, my superior from now on! (Actually, pretty much everyone has a higher rank then me, got to work hard!)

I had to do a research paper last weekend for summer school, so there's some complaints about them. Research paper sucks big time! I wrote most of this chapter while I should've been writing about how boring the Great Gatsby is. (Did I just say boring? I mean… no, there's no other word to describe that stupid book).

Well, enjoy and leave me a REVIEW!!

* * *

Orders were issued; Hinamori was to replace Rukia as tenth division's lieutenant. The captains did not want her remain in fifth division (Ichigo didn't really want someone who was in love with Aizen as lieutenant either), and since Hitsugaya was the 'childhood friend' he got the job. There was much teasing over it from Matsumoto, Rukia was a little regrettable, and she was now co-lieutenant of ninth division, solving the no-captain issue for the time being. Hitsugaya felt a little guilt at his immense happiness, Rukia was down a lot following that day, from the news she was moved or from the kiss she got from Ichigo, Hitsugaya didn't know.

Hinamori didn't stay in fourth division for long; she came to work just three weeks after being found, despite Hitsugaya's insistence on her resting longer. The three weeks hadn't been too enjoyable for Hitsugaya, without Rukia and her quick pack and high work ethic; he once again had to do all the paperwork. It was more painful then half a year ago when Matsumoto had been his lieutenant—he was used to it then.

So a few days after Hinamori got to work, Hitsugaya finally found the time to talk to Rukia. The two of them haven't seen each other in ages! He missed talking to her and the blessed breaks she gave him; Hinamori is a good lieutenant but somehow she just can't keep up with Rukia's pace. So on the first occasion where he was free, Hitsugaya took Hinamori to ninth division to see Rukia.

The first thing he saw was Rukia probably missed his work pace too, there was stacks of paper Hitsugaya swears is taller then Rukia; all the windows were closed despite the hot weather, probably to avoid flying papers.

"Hey, you got quite a bit on your hands, miss me?" the tenth division flashed a small smile at Rukia, who didn't even look up.

"If you're here to rub it in, then leave." Rukia said hotly.

"Hey," Hitsugaya said with annoyance, "I came to see you and this is the thanks I get?"

"Do you know how annoying it is to have piles of paperwork towering over you? It feels like they're going to crush you and bury you alive!" Rukia still didn't look up from her work.

_Maybe my workaholic problem did rub off on her a little too much._ Hitsugaya thought to himself, but quickly pushed the thought aside. "Where Hisagi, shouldn't he be helping you here?"

"He's drinking with Matsumoto san." Rukia replied.

"He dumped all this work on you?" Hitsugaya was outraged; he knows how annoying it is to do all the work by oneself, it's so Matsumoto like.

"No, I gave him the week off. He deserves a break." Rukia said unconcerned.

"You gave him the week off?" Hitsugaya repeated stupidly.

"Yes sir, it took me three weeks to finally settle in here and get everything into order. So the first chance I got I decided he needs a break from all this work."

"Um, why?"

"Give the guy some credit! He's been doing the captain and the lieutenant's job since Aizen's betrayal, a whole year of this! I can take one week, plus he's still keeping up with the training!"

Shiro was lost for words; he shook his head but decides Rukia was right. "Speaking of training, are you still working on your dances?"

"Yeah, but the formal training camp's been dismissed, right?"

Hitsugaya just nodded, which Rukia didn't see as she still had her head buried in the huge report she was busy reading. "So what got you so worked up you actually had to visit me?"

"Are you mad cuz I hadn't seen you?"

"That, plus you haven't returned any of the paper work I sent you."

"I'm working on them, there's a lot in case you haven't noticed." Hitsugaya spat out, neither Rukia nor Hisagi had the authority to sign some of the papers, so they got sent to his division instead (the one closest to them they can trust, 7, 8 and 11 are a little unreliable when it comes to paperwork).

"Toshiro-sama, we can't do a lot of the work without those permission slips! We need them NOW!" Rukia slapped her hand on the table impatiently.

"Calm down, Rukia, I'll get them done! Hinamori just got back and I don't want to work her too hard!" the short captain said, annoyed.

"I expect all of the permission slips I sent you to be done and in my office first thing tomorrow morning. I suggest you get started now, Hinamori may be recovering but you're not. You used to do both the captain and the lieutenant's work; this should be easy for you." the raven head glared at her former captain, Hitsugaya cursed himself for molding Rukia into such a workaholic.

"Fine, I just came to visit you, considering we're friends." Whitey rolled his eyes.

"We are, unless those papers aren't at my desk when I come in tomorrow morning." Rukia smiled evilly, err, sweetly.

Hitsugaya turned on his heels and hurried back to his division, man was it frustrating without her taking care of everything! He didn't even have a nice, hot cup of tea that morning! Lunch hadn't been prepared for him, the accounting stuff belonged to him again (A/N: I took accounting in school, and it is the most painstaking job you shall ever come across, not to mention hard)

Hinamori followed Hitsugaya out, but she shot one look at Rukia before she walked out the door; was that…hatred?

* * *

Poor Shiro pulled an all nighters to finish the task Rukia set him to; he cursed himself for getting her into a workaholic. So that's what people feel when he threatens them to do paper work, Rukia had nailed it perfectly, the bone chilling ice wielders…

The next morning Hitsugaya got a few of his guards to sent the paper over to ninth division before Rukia walk into her office, even he didn't want to face an angry Rukia at the moment. He still hadn't told Rukia what he said to Byakuya, the stupid girl has a perfect sixth sense! She somehow realized it was something Hitsugaya said that afternoon that resulted in her brother ignoring her completely now. For the past three weeks the head of Kuchiki clan hadn't looked, talked, mentioned, or in anyway connected himself to his sister. It scared Rukia a little, the guy used to set people stalking her!

Our nervous tenth division captain regretted his outburst now very deeply; he can feel the chill and the twitch of Byakuya's finger towards his zanpaktou every time they meet (which was thankfully just at the captain meetings). It was truly a blessing to have Hinamori back again, although he does feel guilty, Rukia seems lonely again; Ichigo and her human friends are no longer talking to her, Hitsugaya was forever busy, and the gossip and reached an all time high. Life was definitely not easy for Rukia Kuchiki at the moment, and the silver hairball feels bad he doesn't have the time to be with her.

However, the midget captain doesn't really have time to dwell on the matter; Hinamori has such a slow pace sometimes he just want to snap at her. Rukia had definitely spoiled him big time by taking over most of the work. He doesn't even remember the last time he had so much work, he was sure the quality of his work went down considerably; but it wasn't really concerning to him until at the end of that month, their budget had run out.

"What do you mean we no longer have funds for the rest of this week?" Hitsugaya snapped at his third seat, "We got FOUR days left before new funds are issued! We can't run out of money now! We have to pay for the meals!"

"Taichou, please calm down." The third seat cringed as Hitsugaya burned a hole through him with his glare. "It's just that, we seem to have spent more money this month, besides, it's just four days."

"This is unacceptable! Do you hear me?" Hitsugaya huffed in anger; Hinamori flinched at the sight of her angry friend. "Who was in charge of the budget?"

"Um, I-I was." Hinamori said in a small voice.

The white hair prodigy was visibly tremble; he was doing all he can not to snap and bite Hinamori's head off. How could she let this happen? God, he wished Rukia was there, she was a born financial wizard! _Damn, where is that shorty when you need her? Oh, wait; she's no longer my lieutenant! Damn it!!_

"Hinamori, I need you to fix this right away, and I want whatever plan you come up with approved by me first. Do you understand?" the short captain demanded.

"Yes, and I-I'm sorry," Hinamori said in a low voice, and then she added, "Toushirou Chan."

"IT'S HITSUGAYA TAICHOU!" midget captain finally burst out, Hinamori cringed at her childhood friend; _Aizen sama is so much better,_ Hinamori thought to herself before leaving the office.

Hinamori's plans turn out to be pretty bad; it consisted mostly of borrowing from other division or a fund raiser they don't have the money to hold. In the end Hitsugaya had to swallow his pride and beg Rukia for help. He pulled another all nighters and finished more 9th division work then she expected; just to put her in a good mood that morning. The white hair captain also brought Hinamori along; it was her fault so he's not going to though the hell known as Rukia Kuchiki alone.

* * *

"Now, if she snaps at me, give her praise or something to calm her down, okay? This was your fault to begin with, can't believe I have to ask her for help! She's never let me live it down!" the grumpy dragon grumbled.

Hinamori let out a silver laugh, and Hitsugaya felt guilty for snapping at her; "Shiro-Chan, it's so adorable how close you two gotten!" she cooed.

"Actually, that was partly your fault too. I was wretched when you died, and Renji died in the winter battle too… we just sorta… bonded." The little captain was lost in his thoughts and memories, and he didn't see the dark look that flashed over Hinamori's face at the mention of the winter battle.

"It's a winter battle now, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, Aizen's not dead yet. So the war's not over, I'm not going to rest until I personally sent that bastard to hell!" he didn't even realize his voice rose; and his back was again facing Hinamori, he missed the dangerous flash of her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess." Her voice was faint.

This time Hitsugaya did notice, it sounds just like when Rukia's upset about something. "Sorry, we shouldn't be talking about him or the war right now." He paused, and then decided to ask anyway. "Momo are you sure you don't remember anything from the six month you were missing?"

Hinamori's head snapped up quickly, and then she shook her head. "No, it wasn't until just two month ago I start regaining them; it took me a while to contact the soul society… I'm not really sure what happened before that…"

Hitsugaya quickly laid a hand on her shoulder (something that always calms Rukia down), and said in a much gentler tone then he had used since the 'news': "hey, don't worry about it, okay? I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm sorry, okay?"

The petite women just nodded, and let out a weak smile. I hope I don't have to harm Shiro Chan, Aizen Sama, she thought before following her new captain into the ninth division office.

Rukia just glared daggers at the two of them; Hitsugaya swears to himself he'll treat people better from now on, so this is what its like under icy glares…

After hearing the whole thing from a gulping Hitsugaya (since when was he so scared? Oh right, when his division is about to starve to death and his only hope is glaring at him), Rukia just sighed and glared. But after a few deep breaths, she sighed again and said in an exasperated tone: "Do. Not. Expect this a second time."

Rukia was, as always, efficient. It took her less then a few minutes to find problems and solutions. Which didn't exactly please Hitsugaya, she was getting annoyed from reading the books, and that's never a good sign from Rukia.

"Who the hell has doing the bookkeeping?" Rukia said in an annoyed voice after five minutes.

"Hinamori, it's her first time…"

"Well, it needs to be re-done," Rukia said, slapping down the leather bond book. "The general journal has no source doc. There's no post ref. the posting isn't organized by dated either." She opened the charts next to it. "The balance sheet isn't balanced; you don't have any adjustments…"

"Um, is it going to be hard to fix?" Hitsugaya asked tentatively.

"Yes, basically you need to re-do the entire month's bookkeeping. And I don't have the time to do it for you, I'm sorry." Rukia poked the charts again, "who was the accountant before me?"

"No one, the record keeper keeps the daily account, and I help do the financial statements at the end of the month." The white haired captain inwardly groaned, how in the world did he let it come to this?

The raven head shook a mane of hair out of her face, "well, I would go find somebody right now. You're spending too much on everything, there's an increase for repairs, some unknown expenses…" looking up at Hitsugaya, Rukia sighed, "I'm sorry to say this, but you need to find somebody who can keep track of all this."

The two officers from tenth division squirmed nervously, this sounds harder by the minute. "Anyone you got in mind, Rukia?"

"Again, no, sorry, I don't have the time. Make eleventh and seventh divisions repay the repair fees, they wrecked a lot of the equipments, there's some from previous month as well… it should be enough to cover the rest of this month… talk to my brother, and maybe he'll let you pay back the money you borrowed."

"What the—I don't owe money to sixth division!" the very uncomfortable little captain yelled.

"Oh, you owe money to the sixth division _and_ the Kuchiki clan. You borrowed them on the 13th of this month." Rukia smirked; it was something very, very rare to see Hitsugaya of all people in this situation.

"Hinamori! Did you borrow money from Kuchiki taichou?" he finally snapped at the brunette girl.

"Well, it was the only way to pay for the ink and paper! You do way too much paper work!" the petite girl behind Hitsugaya pouted, then with his back towards her (and shaking his head in defeat), Hinamori glared menacingly at the petite girl in front of Hitsugaya.

Of course Rukia would never miss a dagger glare like that! She scowled slightly at the second glare she's gotten from the girl; did Hinamori hold a grudge against her or something? Rukia wondered to herself, but didn't dwell on it as Hitsugaya left with the brunette girl and she again had to face the mountains of paperwork. "Why did I get myself into this?" Rukia wondered out loud this time, cursing herself for giving Hisagi a break—the guy was now hangover and was nowhere near ready to come back.

* * *

The captain of tenth division was fuming—and the understatement of the year goes to—it wasn't just the financial problems either; Hinamori was a lot less efficient then Rukia, she was nowhere near Rukia's understanding of him. In fact, she was worse then Matsumoto! The blonde women may not have done the paperwork a lot, slept in his office a lot, goofed off and went MIA a lot, but she was fierce loyal like Rukia and understand him inside and out.

The day wasn't going so hot for him—or in his preference, cold. Hinamori didn't prepare the report on Aizen's previous battles on time, so he had to write it himself (did I ever mention was a pain research papers are? well, they're as boring as painstaking as you can get). She was whining about Aizen and how he's innocent once again, Hitsugaya had the urge to punch her then, but he stopped himself when he reminded himself that she wasn't fully well yet.

The only good thing that came out of Rukia switching division was the lack of visitors, the annoying captains who always dropped in to either check on Rukia or get new gossip on their relationship had died out. Matsumoto was still at the training grounds, Ichigo doesn't dare to talk/look at neither Rukia or him now (he had a feeling the carrot top was tip toeing around Byakuya); the rowdy bunch (aka, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi and Kyoraku; aka the group who follows him and Rukia around to get gossip) was set on training by Yamamoto's orders (thank heavens for that), and the older Kuchiki had stopped talking to him since their 'conversion'. The stern captain seems to be determined to ignore Hitsugaya and everything related to him or Rukia, but that's the last thing on his mind at the moment.

The eleventh division was, unluckily, also broke and the same goes for seventh division. Neither squad had the money or the patience to deal with Hinamori when she went to get the money, and when Hitsugaya threatened bankai on them they just merely shrugged; those nutty divisions are always welcome to a good fight. The white hair captain inwardly groaned, where the hell was Rukia Kuchiki when you need her?

Hinamori remain unfocused and spacey as the days worn on; she still claims she doesn't remember a single thing—but Hitsugaya was beginning to doubt her, sometimes she would appear to be deep in thought, and whenever Rukia was mentioned, the brunette girl would scowl and glare in a sinister way at whoever made the comment. It bothered Hitsugaya deeply, but once again he was distracted from it; more and more arrancar were appearing all over the world, diverting their attention from Karakura town. They had lost a lot of seated officers and there was still no sign of either Aizen or Ichimaru.

Eight month, that's how long it's been since the winter war.

Eight month, that's how long since Hitsugaya had found the little Kuchiki dancing in the snow storm he had made.

Eight month, that's how long since Renji has been dead, Rukia was slowly getting over it.

Eight month, that's how long since Hitsugaya and Rukia had been talking and having fun.

Eight month, that's how long Hinamori had stopped talking to her friends.

The winter war, now simple the war, was nowhere near finished. Preparations were made more everyday, training sessions were added and weapons were sharpened; records were went though and everything once touched by Aizen and his followers were investigated.

Hinamori did her job, a lot worse then Rukia or even Matsumoto, but that's all she did.

Hitsugaya remembered a time when they would just sit around in the middle of July and eat watermelons; there was a time, very long time ago, when they would laze around and call each other silly names.

It was indeed a very long time ago, even by soul reaper standard.

Back then Hitsugaya's hair was fluffy, not spiky; Hinamori's hair was short, before she grew it out for the traitor.

Back then Hitsugaya was living with his grandmother and had no control over his powers; Hinamori was at the soul reaper academy, dreaming over the traitor.

Back then Hitsugaya was even tinier and had never met any of the people he lives around today; Hinamori had already befriended her teammates and met the traitor.

The traitor, Aizen, the ex-captain of fifth division…

It all made Hitsugaya uneasy, he couldn't put his fingers on it, but there was something bothering him deeply. Hinamori was just not herself, she was a good lieutenant before this, and certainly did a better job with paper works then Matsumoto.

* * *

Of course, Rukia didn't bother to make his life easier; the few discussions they had seems to always turn sour. Rukia keep returning to the topic of Hinamori, she insists she has a hunch and there was something off with her; she named it her 'women's intuition', which annoyed Hitsugaya to no end.

"I'm just saying she's a different person from before!" Rukia insisted for the fiftieth time.

"Of course she's different! Her captain turns out to be a complete lunatic and tried to kill her? You'll go nuts too if I did that to you!"

"Not that kind of different! She seems to hate everything and everybody!" Rukia retorted, "And you'll never stab me! I doubt you could ever point your sword at me!"

"Oh yeah, how can you be so sure?" Hitsugaya smirked.

"We're friends, and friends don't go around and point their zanpaktou at people!"

"All I'm saying is that there is nothing wrong with Hinamori."

"Will you listen to me for once?!" Rukia snapped, "There is something sinister about her reitsu after she returned!"

"There is nothing sinister about her reitsu!" the white hair captain was finally losing patience.

Rukia rolled her eyes, "explain those mean looks and evil glares."

"There is nothing wrong with that! You glare at everybody, why she is different?" the little captain sighed heavily.

"Do not, besides, I always had a good reason!"

"So does she, give her a break!"

"Well, what is it? That's what I want to know!"

Hitsugaya sat up straight and stared at Rukia intently. "It's none of your business, Rukia."

"Do you know then?" she asked.

"No, it's none of my business either!"

"She's your lieutenant and your friend, you need to know!" Rukia was now in the staring contest with him.

"That's enough, Rukia. I don't want to hear anymore." The white hair boy sighed before turning back to the pile of paper work in front of him.

Rukia stared at him for a few seconds longer, before bowing and walking out of his room heatedly. She knew there was something wrong with Hinamori, and she didn't like it. Nor did she like the way Hitsugaya kept protecting her; _it's like they're an item or something!_ She though angrily.

Those same arguments continued over and over until it was a regular shouting match routine for them. Hitsugaya was more then annoyed, he was doing the same thing as that substitute turned captain was doing with Rukia! They rarely talked about anything else now, and Rukia seems determined not to be around the lieutenant of tenth division. Hitsugaya could have sworn she ran away every time the pair of them came to her reitsu sensing range.

* * *

The weeks following were not so pleasant, Rukia was again drawing into herself, Hitsugaya could tell even from a long distance away. She was still talking to people, but you couldn't get anything out of her.

Oh, I didn't mean she wasn't talking! She was talking, but from Hitsugaya could gather (he doesn't want to talk to her personally, in case the 'talk' came up) from the people who did talk to her, you don't know anything about her. If you asked how her day was, she would smile sweetly (which was obviously fake to Hitsugaya, but real to everyone else) and say she had a great day; but the conversion stopped there. It was smaller then small talk, you couldn't even get her opinion on the weather (but Hitsugaya knew she hated it, the sun was melting the both of them).

The real problem came a few weeks after their consistent arguments stopped. The women's association meeting had just ended; girls were piling out in groups, chattering. Rukia was doing her best to stay as far away from the lieutenant of her best friend as possible. She was feeling a little jumpy that day, the meeting was boring and Hinamori's stares were getting on her nerves, though she tried not to show it.

Hitsugaya was raging, he had shunpo-ed towards his lieutenant the moment he felt her leaving her meeting. Hinamori hadn't finished filing the training reports and he was furious; he was also irritated that morning, his coffee (only way to stay awake) had spilled and damaged a corning of his report, which he had to re-do.

"Hinamori," the white hair captain growled the moment he caught up with her. "Want to explain the training reports to me?"

"Err, well, see—Hinamori said gingerly, picking her words with care. "It's a funny story, see, I had to attend this women's association's meeting, I've missed a lot. You've been working me very hard lately…"

"I said I want these reports filed by the time I came into the office today." His voice was dangerously low, and his eyes glowed with fury. "I told you to file these reports ages ago, I need them done today, and I expected you to finish them, not attend some meeting for fun!"

"Shiro Chan, that's mean…" Hinamori pouted, "This really is a lot, you know."

"Rukia would have it done, so would Matsumoto if I had given her this much time." He hissed.

"Well, I'm tired—beside, if Rukia would have done it, go to her! She does everything for you anyways!" her voice grew louder and angrier.

Rukia raised her eyebrows, "Do. Not drag me into your problem, Hinamori fukutaichou."

Hinamori stiffened; her eyes grew wide at Rukia's cold tone. "Rukia fukutaichou… you do exceed your boundaries a lot; I understand you're new to being a lieutenant, but you're butting in way too much between my taichou and I."

The raven haired girl was now doing her very best not to tremble with anger, her voice was now like ice wind. "Hinamori fukutaichou, may I remind you I've been a very good lieutenant and you are the one judging here."

"Aren't I wrong? You like Shiro Chan, that's why you help him with all this paper work; you're not a 'hard working lieutenant'." Hinamori air quoted, her voice mocking, "You're a suck up!"

"Hinamori fukutaichou, please mind your language. I am most certainly not a suck up; I've become friends with Toshiro-sama when you were absent, it does no good to throw jealous looks and accuse me like this."

"Shut up, you bitch!" Hinamori snarled in a very out of character way, even Hitsugaya was shocked as he looked between the heated (or icy, in Rukia's case) exchange; he had merely wanted to shout at Hinamori for not finishing her work, how did Rukia get dragged into this?

"Toshiro-sama sama is too blinded by your friendship to see your true nature. I for one know there are loopholes in your 'story'; you were MIA for too long in Hueco Mundo to pass off as amnesia. It takes a good actor to see through another, you are hiding something from the rest of Seireitei, and we have a right to know!" her voice was low and came out almost like a hiss.

"Oh, now who's the one accusing? You have no proof or right to say that! I love Shiro Chan and you're the jealous bitch!" Hinamori's voice was high pitched and her face was turning red with anger.

"Don't you dare call me a bitch; you're the one who has something to hide from your best friend!" Rukia's glare could've blasted a whole through most people, but Hinamori was turning the stare with just as much intensity and hatred. The crowd of girls around them now gossiped openly and was attracting more people, Matsumoto stood by the side, ready to step in if anything goes wrong.

The staring contest didn't last as long, the two petite shinigami was engaged in a name calling contest that made quite a few people raise their eyebrow in surprise—who knew the Kuchiki princess could sprout such language?

"Bitch!"

"Liar!"

"Fraud!"

"Cheater!"

"Thief!"

"Witch!"

"Shut up!"

"Oh, ran out of things to say? You need Toshiro-sama to back you up now?" Rukia scowled, losing her patience completely.

"Well, Shiro Chan will help me, but he's seen through your façade, you lost, Kuchiki." The cold and bitter reply came from the other petite girl's lips.

It happened very fast then, Rukia screamed "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" and swings her white blade towards her fellow lieutenant, Matsumoto grabbed Hinamori out of harm's way in the nick of time, but had to jump with the girl back as Rukia sliced the air where Hinamori's head had been.

"Rukia, that's enough, come to my office now!" Hitsugaya barked at his ex-lieutenant. But it seems Rukia was ignoring him or was too blinded by anger to hear anything. She makes another sweep at Hinamori, who was dragged out of harm's way by Matsumoto again; the crowd drew back as Rukia stabbed the ground and called out her second dance. The huge wave of ice erupts from the tip of her sword sliced the air and cut through a few guard houses.

"Rukia, that's enough," Hitsugaya called again. But Rukia just called out her fifth dance as a response; the white butterflies danced through the air and the crowd ran into nearby houses, still peeking from the windows. The 'fight' went on, Rukia was still slicing the air inches from Matsumoto and Hinamori's head; Hitsugaya was now raging, Rukia never defied his direct orders before.

"Rukia, I'm warning you…" he said slowly, but Rukia just called out her first dance and drew the circle around Matsumoto and Hinamori. "Toshiro-sama, I'm doing this for you."

Matsumoto and Hinamori jumped out of the way at the last second, Rukia really was powerful when she wanted someone dead. Sighing, Hitsugaya pulled out his sword and blocked Rukia in mid-strike.

"Go away, Toshiro-sama." Rukia shouted.

"Rukia, don't make me…" Hitsugaya warned. Rukia shunpo-ed around him and aimed a kido right at Hinamori's chest, it missed her heart by a hair, and hit her shoulder instead.

"Rukia, I'm sorry, but you forced me." Hitsugaya said angrily, he began sparing with Rukia, who was quickly overpowered. She looked hurt and sad as she blocked each strike; she didn't attack, all she did was block the swings the young captain made. Rukia stepped back more and more, retreating as she did her best not to attack her former captain as well. Her anger grew less as Hitsugaya pressed on, her will to fight thinning.

Her hand slipped, she didn't hold one of the blocks properly; Hitsugaya didn't notice the slip, he thought it was nothing more then a failure. There was an opening as Rukia's sword didn't make the full arc of blocking; Hitsugaya went for it.

Never in a million years did the young captain think his sword would actually make contact with Rukia. He had merely wanted to scare her and discourage her, but there was the sound of metal scraping against each other and a loud gasp.

Hitsugaya's sword pierced Rukia's right side; leaving a line of blood.

The crowd gasped in horror, Rukia's blood burst from her body like spring water. Hitsugaya's eyes went wide as he realized he had just stabbed his best friend; looking into Rukia's eyes, he saw something he never thought existed in those violet orbs—it was pure hatred and anger. Those sparkly eyes were filled with emotions he never seen on her face before, they looked empty and distant now.

"Please withdraw your sword from me, Hitsugaya taichou." The petite woman's cold and indifferent voice scared him—it's not Rukia's voice; it sounds like it came from a part of Rukia that was hidden and suppressed for a long time, a demon in the shell of Rukia.

"Arrest her," he looked away before he said this, sighed, and muttered a binding spell silently; the spell bounded Rukia's powers—she was just as good at kido as Hinamori, and he wasn't about to let another insane girl run around with her powers intact.

* * *

Latter that day, after his 'nap' (he didn't sleep well, for obvious reasons), Hitsugaya decided to pay a visit to Rukia inside the tenth division jail cell. Her back was towards him as she sat silently, looking out the window with a indifferent but somewhat sad expression—much like when she was waiting for her death.

"Rukia, what made you do something as stupid at attacking Hinamori?" Hitsugaya snapped angrily the moment he was outside her cell. He couldn't feel her, as her reitsu was completely sealed in, so he felt safe without guards around her 24/7. Rukia hated to have people stare at her when she was thinking.

"You'll thank me someday; you'll see her true nature someday." Was the cold reply Rukia give without turning to look at him.

"I don't think so!" the white hair captain said in annoyance. "You've been stripped of your rank, your powers and you're stuck in a jail cell!" he sighed heavily, "just admit you're wrong, Rukia, okay?"

"NO."

"Rukia, I'm asking you this as a friend, please." Hitsugaya's voice was almost pleading, he didn't want anything to happen to Rukia.

"Maybe you're new to this 'friend' game, Hitsugaya taichou." Rukia almost snarled out his title, "But our 'friendship' was over the moment you start attacking me! I never hit back, but you just kept on going until you stabbed me."

This was something Hitsugaya was quite sorry about, he didn't mean to hurt her, and he was quite concerned about the wound. "How is the wound, Rukia? I sent a fourth division member early today, they say you're okay now."

"Oh, I'm fine!" Rukia mocked in a sing-song voice, "I mean, it's just a great day for me, isn't it?" her voice turned bitter and was dripping sarcasm. "It's not everyday you find out your best friend, or ex-best friend, is only friends with you because his bff slash crush is gone!"

"Rukia…" Hitsugaya began awkwardly.

"No, our friendship is over, it was based purely on pity, so it was over the moment Hinamori came back!" her icy voice rang through the empty cell and around the hall.

Hitsugaya walked back without another word.

* * *

Midnight, two days later.

Hitsugaya, along with every other soul reaper with enough sense to recognize the spiritual pressure jerked awake. Hitsugaya had been napping on his office table, after his fight with Rukia he was always uneasy, and therefore never took his afternoon naps. Plus the fact Hinamori haven't changed a bit in her work didn't help matters either, this was one of the times when he wished with all his heart Rukia was there to ease the load somewhat.

But he still woke up at the sudden spiritual pressure springing from nowhere. Hitsugaya shunpo-ed towards his division holding cells, his heart racing with worry and fear. As expected from a captain, he got there in the blink of an eye. The spiritual pressure was gone, Rukia's jail cell was utterly empty; all was left is a simple note on the chair that was still slightly warm.

The young captain picked up the note with a trembling hand, not even realizing the other captains and lieutenants appearing all around him. The note read:

_Dear Shiro Chan:_

_I really expected better out of the 'boy genius', you let your guard down, silly. _

_You knew better then anyone I wanted Rukia, you saw what Gin did to her! So why didn't you even bother to post a guard? I had to reprimand you with a letter instead of letting the guard deliver the scolding!_

_Well, sorry to be picking on the littlest captain, but_ _Hinamori is now useless to me, do what you want with her; and tell her she disappoint me greatly—she took much longer then I expected to get Rukia out of the captains' watchful eye._

_You really ought to have listened to your little butterfly; she is the only officer who never witnessed my shikai release! Silly Shiro Chan, you haven't taken my advice at all! Letting your emotions get the better of you and using big words…tsk, tsk, it won't do, my boy._

_Yours truly,_

_Aizen_

* * *

So, does this count as the big evil cliffy? And I made Hinamori into as bad as I possibly could, any suggestion on how Shiro will punish Hinamori?

Like I said, this chapter is for Sweetie-taichou and Rebecca fukutaichou, I've been officially admitted as a member of 13th division! This is my first chapter release as the proud third seat of thirteenth squad!

Please review, I want to hear some suggestion for the next chapter or I'll go writer's block.


	6. Chapter 6 White Tears

I'm updating! simply because i don't like the #13, which is where White Ice is if you search Hitsugaya T. and Rukia K. under all ratings. so i'm updating!

I got a lot of reviews for the last chappy, it made me sooo happy, so i'm updating this one faster then i normally do!

This chapter is for Iana chan, for two things, first she threatened bankai on me if i didn't update, sweat drop, so after like 3 weeks of her review, i updated! also for her candy, sugar high five rocks!

Also to BlueSky chan! thanks for the support!

I'm taking a moment right now to encourage you to read my other story, Bonds of Blood. if you like HitsuRuki and like vampires, that's the story for ya. and no, it is not AU, only slightly.

Disclaimer: do. not. own. Bleach. why do i keep rubbing this painful fact in my own face?

* * *

_Dear Shiro Chan:_

_I really expected better out of the 'boy genius', you let your guard down, silly. _

_You knew better then anyone I wanted Rukia, you saw what Gin did to her! So why didn't you even bother to post a guard? I had to reprimand you with a letter instead of letting the guard deliver the scolding!_

_Well, sorry to be picking on the littlest captain, but_ _Hinamori is now useless to me, do what you want with her; and tell her she disappoint me greatly—she took much longer then I expected to get Rukia out of the captains' watchful eye._

_You really ought to have listened to your little butterfly; she is the only officer who never witnessed my shikai release! Silly Shiro Chan, you haven't taken my advice at all! Letting your emotions get the better of you and using big words…tsk, tsk, it won't do, my boy._

_Yours truly,_

_Aizen_

Matsumoto read out the letter from behind the young captain; he was visibly trembling as he heard every word. He thought there are a dagger and a hammer that beat on his heart with every syllable. Matsumoto's voice was shaking towards the end; the other captains gasped and Ichigo slammed his fist into the wall with a loud crashing sound.

"Hinamori betrayed us?" Ukitake was the first to respond.

"No way…"

SoiFon summoned her secret remote squad and sent an arrest order for Hinamori, who was the only one not there. Byakuya just stood silently, trying to make sense of the spiritual energies he could find around the cell; there was Aizen and Gin, obviously, but also some unknown force Byakuya guessed was an espada. It was hard to tell Aizen's reitsu, there's a force field like barrier that seems to be screening it and there was something slightly off about it…

Matsumoto finally noticed how strange her ex-taichou was, his eyes had gone strangely blank and airy, and he didn't seem to be aware of anything around him. The strawberry blond woman's worry increased when he trembled and swayed, it was so very un-Hitsugaya like.

"Taichou… taichou… TAICHOU!" Matsumoto started to shake the little captain and waving her hand in front of his out of focus eyes, trying to bring him back to earth. Unohana also noticed the strange behavior of her fellow captain, she quickly kneeled down (yes, she still needs to kneel down, but she's not towering over him on her knees anymore) and examined the younger captain.

"Shock, he'll have a panic attack soon, keep an eye on him, Matsumoto san." the black haired captain quickly summoned Isane to stay with the pair and went to see Ichigo, who was having a panic attack/fit already.

"Taichou, wake up, you've got to snap out of this and help Rukia Chan!" Matsumoto whispered in a scared voice, she doesn't even want to deal with Hinamori right now. Yes, she may have known Hinamori longer and better, or so she thought, but Rukia was the kind of girl she bonded with. Rukia had a sense of humor Matsumoto deeply appreciated, she was tough but caring and kind when she needed to be; also, the petite girl was the perfect lieutenant and friend for her beloved Toushirou. Matsumoto is the biggest HitsuRuki fan in the women's association; she knew she couldn't stay with Hitsugaya for life, and Rukia was more then perfect to be her replacement, Hitsugaya was happy around her.

"Hinamori, you're going to pay for doing this to them!" the busty woman hissed angrily, as she shakes her captain some more.

"Hitsugaya taichou, Hitsugaya taichou…" Isane snapped her finger in front of the glass like eyes, with no reaction from them.

A few minutes later, the black attired members of the secret remote squad escorted a screaming and kicking Hinamori in. her eyes were bulging and lined with blood vessels that seems to be popping out; her whole face was pale and slightly green. The captains and vice captains who're still in the holding cell turned around at the sound of her screams.

"He PROMISED! AIZEN TAICHOU SAID HE LOVED ME! HE SAID HE'LL BE BACK FOR ME! JUST YOU WAIT!" her screams were piercing and quite a few people wanted to slap her.

"Hinamori, have you betrayed soul society and purposely put Rukia in jail where she's powerless and without a protector?" Byakuya couldn't hold his silence any longer.

"THAT BITCH STOLE AIZEN SAMA FROM ME! SHE'LL BE USEFUL TO AIZEN SAMA, AIZEN SAMA WILL SUCK HER DRY!" everyone became uneasy as Hinamori kept on screaming.

That did the job, Hitsugaya snapped out of his trance; but instead of breaking down like normal people would, the little ice dragon threw a tantrum! Just imagine an 8 year old throwing a major fit, plus Hitsugaya's powers over ice… you get the picture. It was more or less ice age all over again.

Matsumoto couldn't even react as the raging ice dragon throws himself at the screaming Hinamori and pinned her to the wall, chocking her. It was amazing how he can dangle Hinamori off the ground when he was still a head shorter then her (well, he only recently surpassed Rukia… barely).

"Taichou, let her down, we need to hear what she's got on Aizen!" Matsumoto tried, but failed miserably, to drag the young captain away.

"Let go, Matsumoto," Hitsugaya said in a surprisingly calm voice, despite his insane actions. "I don't need to know more, Aizen undid the spell on Hinamori." The deadly calm voice turned angry and bitter as he spat out his childhood friend's name.

"What…" Ukitake began, and everyone's eyes followed where Hitsugaya's hand was pointing, one hand still firmly slamming the black haired girl against the wall; Hinamori finally lost the breath to scream, she started to wiggle and trying to free herself, although it was just pointless struggle against Hitsugaya's firm grip.

SoiFon and a few others got closer to examine the girl who was screaming just a few moments ago, there were details they had missed; Hinamori's sword guard (the secret remote squad had brought it with them) was different now, the old flowery guard was gone, instead it looked like a circle of metal fangs pointing in all different directions; she had also curved her hair and dyed it slightly, the dye was wearing off, but you can see she styled it to resemble Aizen's hair.

But what really frightened them was Hinamori's eyes, they were no longer brown; they were bloodshot, and the pupils had turned a complete blood red. The color was so deep it felt purple under the shade. How had they not notice it before?

"Hinamori, you used my trust, how could you? How could you throw away your friendship with EVERYONE AND SELL RUKIA TO THAT BASTARD AIZEN?" Hitsugaya's voice lost its cool as he looked into Hinamori's eyes, or just what was left of his friend. He let go of her throat and pushed her against the wall.

"Silly Shiro Chan," Hinamori said in a sing song voice, like explaining to a child a simple concept of one plus one, like what she did was the most logical thing in the world and 'silly little Shiro Chan' will understand if she just explained it well enough. "Silly Shiro Chan, I had to! Don't you see, Shiro Chan? He loves me and I love him! Love is a beautiful thing, you know, and when you grow up a little, you'll understand too, 'Kay Shiro Chan?"

"IT'S HITSUGAYA TAICHOU AND SHUT UP!" Hitsugaya lost his cool completely, the ice dragon now just wanted to punch the girl he once had a crush on. How dare she? She sold his Rukia to… to that MONSTER!

"Shiro— Hinamori didn't get a chance to finish her sentence this time, Ichigo had grown so angry he punched Hinamori on and head. The girl instantly fell unconscious and SoiFon rolled her eyes as she motioned for the squad members to remove Hinamori.

"Taichou, are you okay?" Matsumoto asked nervously as she watched Hitsugaya tremble with anger.

"We'll hold a captain's meeting in the morning, when 12th division and the secret remote squad have gathered all information." The head captain said grimly, looking at Byakuya, Ichigo, Ukitake and Hitsugaya before leaving.

* * *

Hitsugaya returned to his bed in a half trance, he felt like he was in a dream state ever since he felt that hated spiritual pressure. Aizen, he really hated that man, no, that monster to the guts; Aizen tore everything away from him, his family, his friends, and now… his Rukia.

The little captain had been secretly calling Rukia 'his Rukia' for a while now, never voicing it out loud. He loved the sound of it, sometimes he was even unconscious of using it in his mind; but he made sure no one ever heard him say those two words.

'His Rukia', 'his snow angel'; it just had a beautiful ring to it, it certainly sounded a lot better then 'his division' or 'his paperwork'. The sad thing is Hyorinmaru can hear his thoughts when the spirit wanted to. And the one of the few times Hyorinmaru decided to drop in on him while not training or fighting, he heard the words 'my snow angel' loud and clear. It was irritating after that, his sword made a point to annoy him and tease him; as if he hadn't had enough on his plate with Hinamori's lousy work and Rukia…

Rukia, the name in his head sounded like a dagger made from ice. It was all _his_ fault, his fault! Why, why didn't he just LISTEN to her? Didn't people say again and again to listen to your girl? Well, Rukia's not exactly 'his girl', but she was close enough. He was the one who practically handed Rukia to that beast in human skin. How the hell did he forget Rukia was the one Gin and Aizen was after this whole time?

All this time Aizen didn't make a move other then those pointless attacks on the living world, Rukia safely under his watchful eyes, it let to a false sense of security that shouldn't ever have been there.

Damn, how did he let things get this far? After all, he just wanted Rukia to calm down and see things his way. She was acting a little weird, and he didn't even bother to notice just what was bothering her.

Of course she was the only seated officer who hasn't seen Aizen's shikai release! She's probably one of the only soul reaper in the entire Seireitei, Aizen didn't bother to release his sword specially for her during the war, so she was the one of the few who haven't witnessed that fake actor's release.

And how could he have not sense the change in Hinamori? He knew her best, after all. The excitement had somehow messed with his senses, Hinamori's return gave him so much joy he let his guard down.

How could he? He pointed his sword at Rukia! He fought against Rukia, and not in training, but in real combat. He actually hurt her! He actually stabbed her! Hitsugaya doesn't even want to know the medical treatment she's getting in that dreaded, pure white sand palace.

He had thrown her in jail, into a lion's din, or worse, into that hated beast's grasp. Why didn't he keep a closer watch over her? He's supposed to be her best friend; he's the one who told Byakuya to back off; he's the one who screamed at Ichigo. Why didn't he just listen to her?

As much as he wanted to scream at Hinamori, he knew it was entirely his fault. Who else let their guard down around Rukia? Who else loaded her with not only her division, but his division's work as well, over work her so much she was to the breaking point?

_Maybe you're new to this 'friend' game, Hitsugaya taichou._ Rukia's voice sounded in his head again, as clearly as she first said it, repeated so many times in his head it hurt. _But our 'friendship' was over the moment you start attacking me! I never hit back, but you just kept on going until you stabbed me._

He hated it when Rukia calls him by his title and last name. He thought he would only let his best friend—his first and only, call him that. He only wanted _Rukia_ to call him that, he had that funny feeling when they first met, when they first talked, when they first became friends.

When he first realized he had a crush on her.

Which, a month later, he had to grudging change to 'I'm in love with her'.

That was a very uneasy week for Toshiro, he never fallen in love with anyone before, let alone a girl he only knew for 5 month.

But things happen, and love is the most unpredictable thing the young genius has ever encountered.

Rukia had him wrapped around her little finger, Toshiro wondered if she knew.

Probably not, or she would have used it to her advantage long ago. She wouldn't have started all those pointless arguments.

But one of those pointless arguments wasn't pointless. She had been right about Hinamori,

Damn, he hated it when she's right about something! And she's always right, damn it! The girl's initiation is just creepily good, or as she likes to point out, he just a butthead who never listens to her.

She's arrogant too! That's one of the things Toshiro loved most about her—confidence. She had confidence when she needs it, but she has such a childish view on things sometimes.

That's when her confidence wavers, it's stupid but somehow she's so full of childish guilt! She thinks she's not worth it, honestly, few people in the entire soul society think less of themselves.

And she's bold; she has this childlike belief on things, once she made up her mind, it's just impossible to change. Yes, even when hell freezes over won't be able to change that little package of trouble's mind.

The trouble magnet, she's not only a trouble magnet; she's also an accident magnet too. Whatever's troublesome or dangerous, it's bound to find her. Aizen, how in the world did that monster set his eyes on a mere lieutenant?

And how in the world did that stupid Urahara put the stupid Hokyoku into her? Then she finds herself one of the few people in the entire Seireitei who haven't seen that bastard's release.

Damn it, it all comes down to his fault! Hitsugaya couldn't resist cursing, he slipped and how she's in mortal danger. He doesn't even want to know what that monster has in store for her, one thing's for sure, it won't be good.

He never got to confess either! The last time they spoke she told him very firmly their friendship—the moments they shared, the memories, the fun—they're all gone! They're useless to her now, what they had, that magical bond Hitsugaya treasured so carefully was cut apart by his own zanpaktou.

Gin, that little weasel won't treat Rukia nicely at all, he hopes with all his heart none of them would do anymore harm to her. It pains him to admit it, but Rukia will probably be dead when he see her again—maybe, just maybe, those things still got a bit humanity left in them—and spare her any humiliations before her death.

Rukia is a warrior, she's not a crazy china doll like Hinamori, and she's tough. She'll be happy to die a warrior's death. The thought of her dying scared Hitsugaya so badly he just wants to cure up into a ball. He wants her right there with him; right there in his arms where he can shelter her, shield her from the dangers aiming at her.

And whose fault was it she's not there? Not under the careful eye of her brother, of Ichigo, of her friends?

Of him.

Didn't he swear, back when he first admitted he had fallen in love with her, that he'll be there for her forever?

Didn't he swear he'll protect her and help her though everything?

Damn it, voices screaming, Rukia's voice, and that bastard's letter keep flashing though Hitsugaya's mind. So this was guilt, this is what Rukia live though everyday. He really should take better care of her, he'll get her back, and he swears it.

"Rukia… I swear I'll get you back in one piece, I swear I'll make everything up to you, even if you hate me for the rest of your life."

* * *

Whiteness, there's something un-pure about that whiteness. It was the first thing Rukia saw as her eyes slowly opens.

What happened? Oh, right, I think Aizen personally went to get me—what an honor, that bastard, I'll get him! Rukia scowls in her head, cursing the beast in human skin that kidnapped her.

"Rukia-Chan, awake already? It's only been four hours, and you got knocked pretty well in the head too!" a sly and oily voice sounded right above her.

Sitting up, Rukia found her head swarm with dizziness, but she pushed herself up nevertheless into an upright position.

"Ichimaru…"

"What's with that? Now, shouldn't a noble princess such as you have more manners?" Ichimaru flashed his fox like smile.

"I can swear like a bitch, wanna hear?" Rukia flashed back her fake schoolgirl smile. "I'm no noble, but I do consider myself above a rat like you."

"Not very nice, Rukia chan, didn't Byakuya taught you more manners than that?" Gin slips closer to her.

Scowling, Rukia pushed herself off the floor she had been unconscious on and stood up with the aid of the white wall. "Don't you dare talk about Nii-sama like that; he's Kuchiki taichou to you!"

"Sure you haven't been disowned yet? Hinamori was boring and slow, but she did get everyone's attention away from you—by throwing you in jail. Seems like you go to jail on our account quite a bit!"

"Whoo-hoo, lucky me, to have demons like you guys take an interest in me, what in the world did I do to deserve this again?" Rukia asked to no one, but glared ice daggers at the light haired man in front of her.

"Demons? Now, now, Rukia chan, not very nice, okay?" Gin didn't seem scared of her glare—probably because he had his eyes closed and can't see those lasers like gamma rays coming his way.

Rukia tried to push herself away from the way. That's when she realized she was chained up. A heavy (lead like to the tired and powerless Rukia) iron chain around her right wrist bounded her to the wall. Hitsugaya's spell that bound her powers were also in place, he's too far away to break it now, damn it!

Making her remaining reitsu go around her body, she found another binding spell. This one is also sealing her powers in—a high leveled one, if she remembered correctly; it sends a shock of pain through your body every time you forcibly use reitsu.

"Amazing, you're still standing up after my binding spell! Truly worthy of being Hitsugaya Kun's lieutenant." Gin started to clap, irritating Rukia to no end.

"Shut the hell up, I really despise you, you know that?" Rukia hissed.

"I see Byakuya Kun hasn't drummed manners into you yet!" Gin grinned again, "Show some respect for your elders, okay?"

"Err, funny, I'm actually never one for respect. I grew up on the streets, remember?"

Gin opened his mouth in a slight gasp, "That's right! You're a street rat; bya-kun probably hates you by now!"

"He's Kuchiki taichou to you, slimy little worm!" Rukia's anger fueled her to stand up straight and glare Gin in the face, too bad it was lost on his closed eyes.

Gin clapped again, "Admirable, really admirable! You're really something, Rukia-chan, maybe that's why Urahara picked you. But then, you failed to protect the Hokyoku… such a shame!"

"Shut the hell up," Rukia shouted again, "I wasn't in charge of guarding that stupid sphere, it's that stupid business man's fault for choosing me!" Rukia found her adrenaline running out fast. "What do you want with me anyways?"

"Getting to the point already? Man, you're too stiff, Rukia-chan!" Ichimaru stepped closer. "But I can tell you, since we have no intention of letting you out of here alive. You're very precious to us for several reasons."

"Care to enlighten me?" Rukia put one hand against the wall, trying to maintain her upright position.

"Well, first you're bait. You're the baby sister of Byakuya, friends with Ichigo and Hitsugaya, formerly under Ukitake, and now you belong to 9th division." Ichimaru leans against a table Rukia haven't noticed before—it had a stack of paper and some pencils on it.

Silence, Rukia didn't see how this was related to her.

"Now, see here, Rukia chan. They're all captains, four captains who'll be sure to come after you!"

"Not really, Nii-sama hates me right now, as you pointed out. Hitsugaya taichou and Kurosaki taichou and I are no longer on speaking terms. Hisagi is not exactly close to me, plus he can't storm Hueco Mundo by himself. And Ukitake taichou—they'll never let him go on a mission to rescue a prisoner no longer in his division, we weren't that close anyways." Rukia rolled her eyes and said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh, they'll come, Aizen actually left a letter to provoke them, see?" Gin start flipping the stack of paper, "Your friends will come and get you… don't worry."

"What's the second reason?"

Gin scratched the back of his head, "You're too stiff, but if it makes you happy, I'll talk with you, Rukia-chan."

"Start talking, and don't call me with that disgusting tone!" Rukia snapped.

Ichimaru shook his head as if in weariness. "Now, now, behave or I won't play with you anymore." Seeing no response from Rukia, the silver haired man went on. "You see, after all those years the Hokyoku spend inside of you, it recognized you as its master."

"I'm the Hokyoku's master?" Rukia felt like gasping, but years of being a Kuchiki helped her keep a calm mask.

"That you are Rukia chan! And in order for Aizen to control the Hokyoku perfectly, obeying his thought rather then reitsu, he needs to become its master." Ichimaru grinned at Rukia's stunned eyes, though her face was nothing but a calm mask.

"The quickest way for us is to fuse your reitsu with Aizen's, forcing the Hokyoku to recognize another master. We sealed your reitsu in so it builds up in you, soon your body will be exhaustion from the reitsu built up, that's when Aizen will suck your reitsu into him and fuses it with his own."

"Then what?" Rukia asked, a little scared now.

"That's easy, Rukia chan; we'll suck you until the Hokyoku obeys Aizen's command or until you die."

Rukia did her best not to show fear, but it was really hard to appear calm when some of the greatest monsters ever to be born just told you they intent to suck you dry. She knew no matter how good her mask may be, with her powers bound like this, she was scared, and Ichimaru knew no matter how hard she may try to hide it.

Ichimaru step away from the desk and walk closer to where Rukia was shakily standing, she felt herself hurting by just maintaining the upright position. When he moved, Rukia saw he had a little buddy guard with her—a tiny arrancar just barely reach her chest—that's saying something. But it was best not to judge the small arrancar by size, as Rukia knew better then anyone to judge people by size. That arrancar might even be an espada, she was strong for sure.

"Meet Levi chan, she's my little friend! #87 of the arrancar army," Ichimaru petted the hollow's puffy, bright blue hair. "She's so cute; I just had to drag her around!"

"Yeah, well I think she's weird and creepy." Rukia snarled, painfully summoning her powers into her hand, ready to unleash a kido to defend herself.

Gin's hand shot out and grazed her cheek, like reflex, Rukia slapped it away. "DON'T TOUCH ME ICHIMARU!"

Levi, the little arrancar shot force to attack Rukia, and instinctively, Rukia unleashed the hado she's been holding in her hand. "Hado #33, blue fire, crushing down!"

BANG

Rukia's hado had hit Levi right in the face—and blasted the arrancar to ash. Ichimaru jumped back to avoid being hit by the debris. The floor had a large crack where Rukia's spell had gone off.

"Amazing, Rukia-chan, simply amazing, that was some spell you worked up! You killed an arrancar with one low level spell, perfect timing and everything, amazing!" Ichimaru ran a hand along his hair, picking out any ash that landed in there. "You know, the last prisoner who stayed in this room—that ryoka, Inoue Orihime, she wasn't nearly as fun as you are!"

That's one way to pick a fight; it provoked Rukia unlike anything Ichimaru said so far. "SHUT UP, YOU MONSTER!"

"Oh, dear, looks like you still haven't got the manner thing down yet."

"Not in a million years, I'm not Inoue, don't expect me to call you sir like a good little girl; and don't expect me to obey quietly, I'll fight until I die. And if I really can't make it out of here—well, I'll just take down as many of you guys with me as I can. If I'm going down, you're all going down with me!" Rukia spat out, jerking the chain that bound her, hoping it would budge, and it didn't.

"That's what I've been looking forward to! Ever since I had to go and cut off your arm—it's a painstaking job, really." He grinned evilly at her, making Rukia shiver. "I had to wait for your arm to be filled with reitsu, when you were planning to unleash a kido. And cut off your arm, it's a gross job too, but if it make you feel better—you got great skin."

"Sicko!" Rukia looked around for anything she can chuck at him—nothing.

"Oh, I'm sure Hitsugaya-kun was oh-so-mad, probably blamed himself for it too, didn't him?"

Rukia trembled with pure anger, if only she had Sode no Shirayuki with her, if only she was untied and not spell bounded, she would kill the man before her eyes. She just wanted to chock him, to hurt him, and to kill him with her bare hands. How dare he talk about Hitsugaya taichou like that?

Somehow the girl was still fierce loyal to her former captain, despite everything that's happened between them.

"Don't you dare talk about Hitsugaya taichou like that in front of me!" her voice was dangerously low, partly from anger so great she was having trouble unleashing it; partly due to she's on the verge of fainting again.

"Or what, Rukia-chan? You're in no position to threaten anyone, you know, people only obey you cuz they like you."

"And here you wonder why I have no manners towards you!" Rukia mocked.

"Heard you like to draw, so I left some paper and pencil here so you don't get bored—you're not as obedient as Orihime chan is." Ichimaru signaled another arrancar, who was guarding the door, to come and clean up the mess Levi's body left. Then the silver haired ex-taichou walked out with a slight wave to Rukia, who had finally crumpled to her pain and slumped to the floor.

* * *

Hitsugaya didn't sleep well that night, nor did he expect himself to; he had nightmares after nightmares on Rukia. The last time he faced Aizen, he had gotten badly hurt before he knew what hit him. The winter battle, it had been no more then a show for Aizen. While he didn't get the spirits he needed for the key, he did make a fool out of Gotei 13.

They didn't even know where to hit, sometimes they hit their own comrades, and sometimes they just hit empty air.

In the end, they didn't even know if Aizen had really been at the battle or was it simply a mere illusion of him. Rukia said he was there, so had he stayed the whole time? Kurosaki had gotten into a fight with Aizen, had that really been him?

Probably not, since Aizen appears perfectly fine after taking Ichigo's bankai. That twisted Ichimaru had been fine as well. Kaname was the only one dead, probably since Aizen didn't want him anymore and didn't bother protecting him.

God, what is that sick bastard doing to Rukia right now? Toshiro felt like burning from the inside as his mad desire to hold her in his arm overwhelmed him. He shuddered in his sleep—Aizen was being, well, heartless Aizen to Rukia.

Would Rukia be even alive by the time those stupid scientists and assassins figure out whatever it is they got to figure out?

What is there to find out? Aizen kidnapped Rukia, personally by the look of it. It was just a form of mockery, provoking the Gotei 13 to rescue Rukia. But will there even be a Rukia left for them to rescue?

Images of Rukia, broken and bloodied, alone on the cold sand of Hueco Mundo invaded his mind. It was like little knives carving at his heart. How many times had he seen Rukia get beat up—sometimes by him—in training? He knew her abilities better then anyone, even better then herself. She would be no match for Aizen, or Ichimaru, or any of the upper espadas.

He will go and save Rukia, dead or alive, trap or no, he has to have her back. In one form or another, she's not being left behind in that heartless, sandy, cold white hell by herself. He would keep his own promise, he would stand by her.

He'll also confess to her, if she's still willing to listen to him, and is still alive after this whole ordeal. He doesn't even care if she stay mad at him—which she has every right to—for the rest of her life. As long as she let him protect her, from the shadows; keep her safe in silence, it'll be enough.

He won't even care if she doesn't feel the same way; he won't care if she hates him and is disgusted with him. He'll respect whoever she gave her heart too, and if he breaks her heart, there will be one raging ice dragon to deal with him.

As long as she's back, she's safe, he won't care whose arm she's in, as long as she's safe.

This requires going after her; storming the white palace of Hueco Mundo sounds easy and reasonable if the reason is Rukia's safety.

God, he's obsessed now, so that's why people say you miss what you no longer have.

He didn't miss her when she was mad at him and not talking to him. But that was back when she was safe in Seireitei, safe within 9th division's compound. Under the watchful eyes or Ichigo, her brother, her entire division, and… him.

Yes, he stalked her, even when they weren't talking a few weeks ago. He silently watched her when she goes to train; he silently watched her when she went out to do missions or errands.

As long as he had time—he even gave up some of his nap time—he kept a tab on her. Knowing she was safe and well treated was so important to him. The girl seems to get upset over rumors a lot, despite her proclamation that it doesn't bother her at all.

That's stupid, really, to let mere gossip mess you up. But somehow they get on her nerves and she would come back, sometimes crying, like the last time she heard them.

Having her in his arms felt so… perfect; it's just a feeling he get, like she's his and his alone.

He liked it when he could wrap his arm around her on occasions, when she's really, really upset. The girl won't accept hugs and kisses for nothing, unlike his other lieutenants—the girly ones, they would love to have a hug from him.

When he did manage to hug her, to hold her in his arms without getting hit in the chest by her little fists, it was heaven like. Rukia can be such a spoiled little girl when she get sad, the girl always wrap her thin arms around his neck, pulling herself up so she could bury her face in the crook of his neck.

It was so comforting having her in his arms like that, where he knew she was safe and protected. Her body was so surprisingly soft, her skin smooth and perfect despite her long trainings and injuries. He loved every moment of their hugs.

And her kisses, they were just plain heaven like. She started to give him good luck kisses, or victory kisses, which are awesome, but especially wonderful when the opponent is Ichigo. She also gave him a slight hug when leaving those tiny kisses on him.

Her kisses, they were more like a slight perk on his cheek, a baby like kiss. And the spoiled little girl insists she gets one back; she wants good luck kisses too, she want victory kisses too. But Hitsugaya always gave her a slight perk on her forehead no matter how good her fight was—he spoils her, he knows, but he can't hold back from leaving those tiny kisses.

* * *

Hitsugaya dressed, getting up before light even crept upon soul society. He polished his sword, ready to cut down whoever touched Rukia, whoever hurt Rukia, whoever took her from his arms.

He made sure he had everything, his robes are brand new, and they would protect him from the sandy wind in Hueco Mundo. He adjusted the flower on his sash; made a double knot on his kimono sash to ensure easier movement.

He put some bandages and healing ointments into his pocket, they would come in handy, and that's for sure. But he hopes Rukia wouldn't need them, hopefully Aizen just want her as bait or something, just leave her alone.

Fat chance of that happening, Gin and Aizen proved themselves. Somehow they're just annoying that way, always picking on the weakest one, not that Rukia's weak. But those monsters always pick on her, first they create a hollow that took away her mentor and condemned her to years of guilt and depression that she still haven't recovered from; then they planned her death, the very thought of Rukia dying ripped Toshiro's heart out.

What if she had died? What if Ichigo hadn't rescued her in time, or lost to Byakuya? What if someone did get their hands on Rukia and put her on the scaffold again? What if she had died before their meeting?

It's a life without her, funny how he only known her for 9 month but already so attached to her. Toshiro doesn't even remember the life he had before he found her dancing in the snow, which felt like a life time ago now.

"Aizen, I'll make you pray you didn't hurt Rukia!"

* * *

Aizen was lost in thought on his throne; Rukia was putting up quite a fight against his binding spell, he could feel it, the spell drew strength from him, after all. The girl wasn't nearly as obedient as Orihime had been. But she was just as fascinating.

Oh, the Inoue girl, she was such a doll. So easy to manipulate, she crumpled without him even lifting a finger. But the Kuchiki princess is far different. That little girl is smaller then Inoue, but could put up a fight a hundred Inoue couldn't dare to.

There she goes again, summoning her powers and trying to break the spell, the chain, the cell, anything to get out. The girl's obsessed with freedom or something? She's well cared for under his watch right now.

Well, there is the chance she'll die a very painful death later; when he laid his hands on her forehead and suck the very life out of her. It's a very painful experience; he tried it on other souls before. There's a reason soul society marked that spell as a highly forbidden spell, after all. It wasn't taught in school, most people don't even know its existence, or its name, let alone performing it.

Even he has to use a chant; kidos in the 100s are so hard to perform perfectly. And this one has to be perfect, he'll suck her life energy out, fuse it with his own until the Hokyoku accepts him and recognizes him as its new master.

How clever was he? This is the perfect plan, and the girl was friends with Toushirou too, unexpected twist, but it often happen with these petty human feelings.

Toushirou, poor boy, he just lack the talent for it, or he might've been recruited along with Gin and Kaname. The girl too, she forms this bond with people, make people want to help her, want to befriend with her.

Amazing how Byakuya had been sheltering her from a wild sex life. There was even a secret Kuchiki princess fan club; not that many captains know about it, since they might spill the secret to the #1 over protective big brother.

Well, after seeing Byakuya really going bankai on Ichigo, who obviously has a thing for the petite girl, the club had been quiet, quieter then they already been. He knew this, since he collected all the information there is on Rukia Kuchiki.

Befriending with captains and higher-ups seems to be easy as pie to the dark haired girl. While most people doesn't even dare to say a work or put a toe out of line in front of the captains; she dare to. She would break rules; even fight the higher ups; it's weird how the baby sister of the most rule abiding man in the entire soul society would pull off something like that.

She didn't just do it once either, the raven head is rebellious when she needed to be. But her fake schoolgirl act, her fake Kuchiki princess act, they masked all the stuff beneath. Not that Aizen care much.

That's right, Aizen didn't care about that bond, and it doesn't really make a difference what bond she has, or how many people come after her. The more the merrier, he'll just squash those pathetic worms and put them out of their misery.

The winter battle had merely been a test; to test his last batch of espadas, without being the master of Hokyoku or its awakening. It also tested how well prepared soul society can be, which to his slight surprise, had been a lot better then he thought.

None of his then top three espada had lived, not that he cares much. By being the true master over Hokyoku, he can easily turn just about any ordinary into a powerful arrancar; take less spiritual energy then the last time as well.

Twitch, the girl had almost broken the seal that last attempt. She must be aching all over right now, that spell sends a wave of pain when provoked. Maybe it was time to put the girl into her rightful place. The constant strain on his spiritual energy is just plain annoying now.

Inoue was such a good girl, a good prisoner. She actually called his espada 'sir', obeyed their every command, it was almost funny.

Sadly the girl soul society care about is just a plain spoiled bratty princess. But he can see why Byakuya would call her his 'pride'. She was putting up a better fight then he thought possible, Byakuya should be proud of such a strong little sister—but not for long now, she'll be nothing more then a memory soon.

Well, guess you can't have everything; girls like Hinamori and Inoue are just too… too soft. They'll obey orders, they're loyal. But they're just… too easy to manipulate, it was almost no fun for him. He could just tell Hinamori and Inoue what he wants, with a slight threat for Orihime, a sweet talk to Hinamori, they'll get it done.

Damn, the girl's getting close now, her last spell, although much weaker then it was before, had finally shattered the chain that was binding her to the wall. Hitsugaya's taste in girls is getting better now! Maybe he finally learned his lesson and chooses people he befriends with more care now.

Getting up, the maroon haired man signaled for a nearby espada, #8, to bring the Kuchiki princess to him. It was time to teach that girl a lesson before she dies; it was time to show her his bankai.

* * *

A/N: okay, Commercial time! i'm recomanding my good friend A Phoenix Tear and her story "The Village Hidden in the Soul Society ", for fans of bleach and Naruto. a cross over, the gang's all there, it's awesome and she deserve some reviewers!

Second thing, school will start soon, updates will slow down, so don't hit me or bankai me for slow updates! junior year is a very important time of my life!

So, leave a good review, gave me some good suggestions, and i'll try to update faster and closer to your taste!


	7. Chapter 7 White Palace

A/N: okay, this one is for Aleshia! To celebrate our back-to-school tomorrow! –now why would that need celebrating?— go read her 'a village hidden in the soul society'! it's brilliant!

Err, hopefully people still remember what happened in the last chapter, and if you don't… well, I did update really late, so you might've missed the last update.

So please leave me a review, and please don't flame me, you guys have been awesome with the reviews so far, so I thank you all who reviewed!

* * *

Hitsugaya was the first to arrive at the meeting hall. It was still dark outside, and even the captain commander has rarely seen the tenth division captain so worked up. Ichigo arrived moments later, followed by Byakuya.

Ukitake and Hisagi arrived together; evidently the two of them had been comforting each other. Over Rukia or over a few certain captain's upcoming wrath is unknown. Even Matsumoto had gotten up early that day; she stood by her former captain and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

Everyone was on edge; after all, the entire soul society (yes, this time even outside the confines of Seireitei) is covered in a thick blanket of snow. And as Ukitake once pointed out, if the weather goes this bad, you don't even need to see Hitsugaya in person to know the grumpy teenager is upset.

The snow hasn't been nearly as bad when Hinamori was first believed dead nearly nine months ago. But Rukia's relationship with Hitsugaya was a special one; not even the blockhead Ichigo could figure just exactly what was going on between the two of them.

The head captain choose to ignore the signs of a few certain captains bursting out of the meeting hall and rush into Rukia's rescue. It was times like this you see the self control Hitsugaya and Byakuya held. The two of them were undoubtedly upset, Hitsugaya being more visibly angry (well, it's hard to miss the knee deep snow that had appeared overnight). But neither one of them showed any emotion on their face—except the hard glare that's drilling holes wherever they're turned, that is.

"All captains are assembled, I shall now began the meeting." The captain commander began, "The report from second division, please."

SoiFon took a step into the opening, and gave a short bow to the aged captain. "We, using truth potion, got the following information from Hinamori Momo." She took out a piece of paper and starts to read from it.

"The traitor Aizen plans to lure captains of the soul society into Hueco Mundo; he also plans to fuse Rukia's spiritual energy with his own, reason unknown at the moment, the method is also unknown at the moment." SoiFon clears her throat. "The kido corps report there is a forbidden spell that will draw out a person's reitsu and fuse it with the user. It is the most possible method currently known to us. End of report from second division and secret remote squad."

The head captain nodded, while Ichigo's patience was being tested to its limit. Hitsugaya clenched his fist in pure anger; he told himself again and again to hear the entire report before running out and get Rukia back. A few people shifted in discomfort as the room temperature dropped yet again.

Mayuri took out his report as well, but he didn't bother to bow to the captain commander as he began. "We believe the reason Aizen had kidnapped Rukia through such painstaking methods is because he can't have her harmed at the moment."

Hitsugaya's face lit up, so Rukia is not in danger right now?

"As the soul society could kill her in secret in order to prevent him from getting her, he made careful steps to avoid anyone suspecting." Mayuri smiled, enjoying the edgy feeling of the room.

"Explain." Byakuya threw a side glance, err, glare at the scientist that told him to get to the point, and fast.

"He's after some kind of power Rukia may have over the Hokyoku after so many years of hosting it. The exact power she may have over it is unknown, but it certainly will be great; with Rukia's power over Hokyoku, whatever that maybe, Aizen's arrancar will grow even more powerful."

Everyone in the hall gasped; even Yamamoto opened his eyes in shock. A few people made angry moves to leave; the only one happy about the news is Kenpatchi—he's looking forward to some strong opponents.

"Then we will go after Rukia Kuchiki, as this may be essential to our victory. I want the entire twelfth division working on just what power Rukia may have over the Hokyoku. I gave my permission to bring the exiled Urahara back to soul society at once." The bearded old man waved his hand to dismiss the captain of twelfth division.

SoiFon stepped forward once again, "Captain Commander, if the forbidden spell really is what Aizen plans to use, then we need to make haste." A few heads shot up. "According to the kido corps, after that spell has been used on them, few souls has ever lived to tell the tale."

It wasn't much of a surprise when the fifth, sixth and tenth division captains flew out of the doors at these words.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rukia was brought before the white throne where Aizen was still deep in thought. She dropped her calm façade; it was too hard to keep up at the moment. She decided to try looking utterly bored to death, to cover up her fear and anger.

"What do you want, Aizen?" Rukia asked in her most indifferent voice, looking like she had much better things to do then standing before him; with a fresh chain on her arm, an aching body, and arrancar standing right behind her.

"Rukia, what a pleasure to see you!" Aizen mocked as he descended the steps and came closer to Rukia. "I believe Gin already told you what you're going to be doing here."

The girl choose to snort instead of answer, she didn't exactly trust her voice at the moment.

"Now, now, don't be like that!" Aizen step closer to the petite girl and Rukia narrows her eyes in disgust. "I want to take some time and get to know you, girl."

She decided to keep her act up, so she rolled her eyes like she was tired of his talking. "Get to know me better? Well, let me introduce myself then!" she got up to walk around the gigantic hall like she owned the place, trying her best to irritate Aizen; she had been exceptionally good at annoying Ichigo, Renji and Hitsugaya.

The thought of Hitsugaya lit something in her, although she was still very mad at the white head, she doesn't want him to ever know she shown weakness in front of their worst enemy. Pulling herself up to her full height (which wasn't very much, since she's short and she always held herself high) and glared into Aizen's eyes.

"Let's say, I hate it when people call me short; but I love strawberry shortcakes, they're yummy." She let out a grin, her fake, sweet schoolgirl grin. "I love bunnies! They're the cutest thing in this whole universe! I love Chappy the best, but his friends are awesome too! I especially like the pink Chappy, which is weird since pink is not usually my favorite color… oh; the purple one is so weird! I mean, I love the color and all, since it matches my eyes, but purple bunny just seem weird to me, what do you think?" she turned her falsely sweet smile towards Aizen.

"Oh, purple bunny does sound strange; I personally can't even imagine it! Pink bunnies are uncommon too, but girls usually like pink." Aizen returned an equally fake and equally sweet smile. Playing along with Rukia's game.

"Girls don't just like pink! We like baby blue too!" Rukia squealed in the most non-Rukia voice possible. She wanted to puke as those words came out of her mouth. Pink is her least favorite color and baby blue is not far from the bottom of the list either. She hated girly stuff and hated men who judged her. But she was determined to ruffle Aizen's feathers at least a little.

"Oh? Then is there a baby blue colored Chappy bunny?" Aizen inched closer to her.

Rukia pouted, the kind she usually reserved as a 'get out of trouble free' card from men, perverted men. "No, they don't, think I should write to them and ask for one? I always wanted to draw one, but they never came out good."

Just then Ichimaru came in, smiling freakily the moment he laid eyes on Rukia. "Oh, look, our very own Kuchiki princess is here to join us for tea!" he snapped his fingers and an arrancar brought a very delicate china tea set in.

Rukia kept up her act. "Oh, good, there's nothing like waking up to a fresh cup of tea. It smells good too; wonder if it'll cover up that horrible smell this place gives off."

Gin let his grin fall a little, "Rukia chan, what could you possibly mean? This place doesn't give off any smell at all!"

Widening her eyes in mock surprise, Rukia stepped closer to the little tea table they set up. "You don't smell it? This place stinks of you two—evilness and blood." Dropping her mocking expression, Rukia went back to her cold and hard glare.

Gin's smile fell completely; while Aizen gets a little irritated the girl keeps on springing stuff like this on them. Oh, if only the Orihime girl had power and influence like her. He never thought a little girl—and a prisoner no less, would give him so much trouble and headache.

But no matter, she'll serve her purpose soon. Might as well get started, since the girl is no longer in talking mood; her hard glare was drilling holes onto the back of his head; she certainly was a Kuchiki alright.

"Rukia chan," Aizen turned to look at her with the same sweet smile on his face, "I think I'll get to the point now."

Rukia continue to glare daggers at her, and she's got ice aura down perfectly; Hitsugaya had trained her well.

"You're going to be enclosed in my bankai, you see." Aizen sat down on one of the chairs. "Since my reitsu is so great it'll consume you; your body will react to that, it'll adapt to me and make the later transaction easier on me. But for you the pain will be the same; it'll be interesting to see how you react to my bankai. Wonder if you can still keep up your Kuchiki princess mask after I'm through with you."

Rukia shook her head in mock, "Dear me, even your arrancar, what's her name, the former #3 espada knows just how to talk to a lady, and she was memory less and a baby!"

An arrancar unseen by her slammed her to the ground as it shot out of nowhere, "Watch your tongue, bitch, that's Aizen Sama you're talking to." It snarled at her.

Rukia chucked, but secretly winced at the pain, not that she'll ever show it. "You're calling a noble lady like me a bitch and asking me to watch what I say? Does Hueco Mundo have strange manners or what?"

The arrancar snarled furiously and strangled her tighter, "You disgusting shinigami, I'll make you—

"That's enough, I need the girl alive." Aizen waved a hand lazily, and the hollow backed off.

"It's not 'girl'," Rukia jumped back to her feet and stared right into those evil eyes. "That's Rukia-sama to you, traitor."

Gin chuckled like he was watching a very good movie. Aizen put down the tea cup he was drinking from and pulled out his zanpaktou. "You ready, girl? I'll show you my ultimate… bankai." He stabbed his sword into the ground before him, and Rukia watched in horror as his zanpaktou spirit emerges.

The ground around them rippled as if in heat screen. Aizen's zanpaktou spirit walked closer, it was all Rukia could do not to scream and fall to the ground. An evil aura radianted offs the figure standing before her; the very air seems to grow icy and… hopeless. It was very similar to the feeling she get whenever she has to open the door of Hell. It's the same hopeless feeling, the same evil presence, and the same fear.

The spirit looked almost like a skeleton, it was thin and... haunted looking, dead or hopeless. But one look into those blood red eyes made the hair on the back of Rukia' neck shot up. She shivered, and tried her best to glare back.

The skin was snake like, it wrapped around the spirit like tight fitting gloves. Long brown hair that reached a little past his bony shoulders; he wasn't pale though, his skin is tanned. His steps are steady, confident, and eager.

The monster was dressed in a white kimono, making his brown hair look redder. He stepped closer, and Rukia unconsciously clutched the front of her robes and took a step back.

"Hello, little girl," the zanpaktou spirit half smiled, half snarled at Rukia. "I'm going to have some fun with you tonight, Aizen haven't used his bankai in a long while, you see." He smiled again, making Rukia suck in a breath. "I love it when he use bankai, I love to hear my victims scream… at their own fear."

Rukia finally got a grip of herself, "What do you mean their own fear…? What are you talking about?"

"Bankai, of course, little girl," The monster was close to touching her now, she jumped back. "My bankai is utter fear, all I need is to look at you once, and I'll make your worst fear come to life, little girl."

The little girl in question snarled, she no longer cared how she looked. "It's Kuchiki-sama to you, haven't you learned your manners towards upper nobility, traitor?"

"Ouch, someone's got an acid tone." Aizen's creepy spirit stepped closer, and snapped his hand. Immediately white blurs appeared all around the two of them. "Enjoy, little girl, this is your worse fear made real just for you."

The smoke clears around her; Rukia's mouth opened in a slight gasp as she saw Toshiro, Byakuya, Ichigo, and Renji standing in front of her. They looked like exact replicas; down to the way Toshiro's wild bang shook as he walked closer.

They felt the same too, Toshiro and Byakuya are both stern and surrounded by a cold aura; Ichigo and Renji both had that little smirk and… moron looks to them. As odd as it sounded, Rukia found herself missing Renji's goofy grin and Ichigo's evil smirk as he out did her at something.

"So, little girl," Aizen's zanpaktou smirked, putting emphases on 'little girl'. "Still think you can put up a fight? Fight and cut the most precious people in your life?"

Rukia did her best not to trip over herself as she backed away; "Why wouldn't I? Toshiro is a total jerk, so is Ichigo. Nii-sama doesn't give a damn about me, and Renji is already dead, by you no less; so it doesn't really matter what I do to YOUR spirit, does it?"

Again, the creepy creature before her smirked almost amused this time. "Alright, let's see what the famous Kuchiki princess can do. Give her a weapon." And immediately, an arrancar rushed forth with a plain sword, as her own zanpaktou being left back in soul society.

"Now let's sit back, and enjoy this spoiled little brat squirms a bit more before her death." Aizen, his sword, and Gin moved away to view Rukia's fight just as the four… were they spirits? Drop their usual expressions and sneered down at her (well, Byakuya didn't sneer, but Ichigo, Renji and Toshiro certainly did).

"How dare you go around and spread rumors like we're best friends? I'm your captain, for pity's sake!" Toshiro's angry rang though the empty hall. And Rukia's knees felt like dropping to the ground.

For the first time since Rukia got there, she felt fear. Deep fear, she shivered as the image of her former captain glared down at her. _Toushirou, help me, please… _

"Spreading rumors like that is a disgrace to the Kuchiki name." Byakuya deadpanned next to the white haired spirit.

Renji sneered down at her, which worked extremely well when you're looking up at four very scarily angry faces. "Can't believe I died for a wimp like you! Why didn't you do anything to protect me? I was right in front of you and you let me die!"

"Okay, that is not my fault!" Rukia tried to look tough, which always fails miserably in front of these four people—her personal demons. "And I did not spread rumors about anyone, let alone myself!"

"It's a shame that you share the same face as my wife." Byakuya deadpanned again, causing Rukia to stare at him in utter disbelief.

Toshiro shook the loose strand of hair out of his eyes. "I hate you, you knew I loved Hinamori, but you cut in between us anyways. Know your place, girl."

"That's right," Ichigo spoke up for the first time. "Know your place girl; I'm so much stronger and a hell lot more important then you are! Stop trying to suck up to me!"

"Suck up to YOU?" now Rukia was officially mad, and when I say mad, I mean WAY mad. "Since when have I ever sucked up to you? You're the jerk who follows me around like a puppy dog!"

"Silence, you insolent child! You have brought shame upon the Kuchiki name. I will stop you with my sword now." Byakuya said in a deadly tone as he draws out his sword.

Ichigo snorted. "Not before I cut off her limbs!" He reached for his over sized zanpaktou.

"I want to cut off her head and blast her into pieces!" Renji sneered in a very un-Renji like way, and also pulled out his sword.

But Rukia's eyes are on Toshiro, his hands were gripped tightly on his sword hilt, the sheath was slowly melting away. His eyes glowed electric blue from anger, it never happened to Rukia before—sure he had gotten mad at her before, but never that mad!

She backed away a step, not even bothering to look at the three others as they all pointed their sword at her. Toshiro scowled at her, his voice deadly icy. "I will personally carve out your heart!"

"Is that any way to talk to a lady?" Rukia tried to keep her voice even, but it sounded like she was about to cry.

"You are a disgrace, a street rat! I will destroy your face so none will ever see the resemblances between you and my wife." Byakuya held his sword up to his face; his expression was full of hatred even beneath that calm mask he always wore. "Destroy her…"

Thousands of pink petals burst into the still air of the great hall. Rukia laughed nervously, "You're a lousy actor, Aizen! You really ought to learn from me, the best actress in all of soul society. Don't you know Nii-sama's release and zanpaktou name?"

"Oh, don't forget, little girl, all four of them possess a bankai, and therefore does not need words to release their shikai." A voice boomed out of the darkness, where Rukia guessed was the door she came in though. She can't see anything though, no Aizen or his sword; but the voice sounded like it was coming from above. "And it is very, very real, girl." The voice chuckled like he really appreciated a good joke. "I'm not the one making this up, you are, this is your fear—I'm merely the one bring them to life—don't kill the messenger now!"

But Rukia wasn't listening to him; she had found out that the spirits were indeed real the hard way. Ichigo's sword had made a painful slash across her left elbow. It was real alright, Rukia thought angrily as she grimaced in pain. She was too busy to listen to Renji and Ichigo cussing at her—they're jerks anyways, and Rukia rarely pay attention to their cursing. Byakuya is now enjoying himself by sending his bee-like petals chasing after her.

It was hard to avoid Renji's whip, Byakuya's swarm of deadly petals, and Ichigo's slashing. But the hardest task of all was hearing how much Toshiro hated her, and taking on his ice dragon.

His voice was exactly how she remembered it—the way he talked to her when they first met—in that snowy clearing where he was making it snow so hard the soul society couldn't even step foot outside apart from her.

It was also the same voice he uses for other people, when he's scolding and 'captain Hitsugaya'. Rukia certainly hasn't heard him use that voice on her in ages, he never talked to her like a jerk—the Ichigo and Renji kind, anyways.

He had once explained to her that she needs to get used to being treated like a girl, a warrior maiden, but still a girl. He had tried very hard after that to not call her a 'bitch'. It seems he had gotten the idea from a rather thoughtless comment she made, where she said her guy friends only recognize she's a girl when they're calling her a 'bitch' rather then 'son of a bitch'.

'Captain Hitsugaya' was very annoying to her, and she shudders to think people think they got the same personality. She thought she certainly was a whole lot nicer then him! And she didn't boss people around and act like a workaholic all the time, did she?

"Stop day dreaming, Kuchiki!" his ice hard voice rang out to her, jerking her out of her little trip down the memory lane. She felt bad—where was the Hitsugaya she shares her worries and secrets with? Where was the Hitsugaya she laughed and joked with? Where was the Toshiro she fell in love with?

Rukia never thought it was possible for Toshiro to aim his sword at her like this—aim of the kill. It certainly was a lot different from their practice sessions. That's when he's nice with her, stopping just before his sword made contact with her flesh, never once hurting her.

He helped her, but to have him aiming his long sword at her vitals with out mercy like this was harsher then she had imagined. She felt sick to her stomach. She wanted to cry, to scream, but she didn't have time for it, her whole world seems to turn upside down and dump in her in the pits of hell. But she was Kuchiki Rukia, and Kuchiki Rukia does not back down from some mere illusions, and especially not from the traitor Aizen.

She let out a war cry, a scream of anger and felt the rush of adrenaline; she turned, eyes now filled with red—she was ready to kill.

* * *

Hitsugaya can barely feel Rukia's spiritual pressure; it was just a gut feeling that let him towards the throne room of Aizen's pure white sand palace. All around him Ichigo and Byakuya were both finishing their fights. It seems Aizen wanted to stall them as long as possible, and didn't care who's killed to get the job done.

And most unfortunately it was working, it's not like it's something the three captains can just ignore! Arrancar and espadas popping out of thin air to cut at them was not the best welcome, but they fully expected it. Especially if what they got out of Hinamori was true, then every minute they save is a thread of life for Rukia. They have to get there on time; they can't waste time fighting pointless, mindless guardsmen.

"She's in trouble, I can tell, she's scared of something, badly." Hitsugaya muttered under his breath as Byakuya and Ichigo re-joined him. He wasn't exactly a whole lot stronger then either one of them, but when it comes to Rukia, when it comes to his uncontrollable rage—to kill the monsters who took Rukia away from him—he found a new strength. He felt energy in him he had never felt before. If that's love, then Hitsugaya decided he likes it.

Byakuya is not happy with the fact that Hitsugaya seems to sense Rukia even without reitsu to guide him, and I mean he's _not happy_. The only thing matched to his dismay is Ichigo's anger, sensing reitsu was not a specialty of his, but he would've gladly accepted help from one of his companions; instead he get treated to an art that seems so… personal. Was it simply him or does the midget captain have a thing for his midget friend?

Toshiro's inner world was in a lot more trouble then Ichigo's or the stony Byakuya's; that's saying something as Ichigo's inner world is on the brink of collapsing and he is barely holding back his inner hollow; while Byakuya was having trouble calming his very enraged zanpaktou spirit down.

But it is true Toshiro was feeling a lot worse; for one thing, his lovely ice dragon had turned into a rage that scared even him a little. The sword spirit had approved of Rukia… first girl, no, living being (well, they're dead, but you get the idea) who ever got some kind of approval from the ever grumpy Hyorinmaru.

For another, his inner world wasn't collapsing, oh no, it's building up. Most people, namely Ichigo, get downpour of rain when they get upset; but Toshiro, being the lord of ice, gets a—you said it, a blizzard.

If Hyorinmaru wasn't made of ice, he would've died in an instant from the dagger like shards of ice, the knife like wind, and the bone chilling coldness. It was a wonder Hueco Mundo isn't in the same blizzard yet, but seeing as they have only a vast desert and no water, it was understandable.

She was frightened now, Toshiro swears she is. She always had this—not icy—but wet aura around her whever she's upset, like she's melting away from sadness. And Toshiro can almost feel the moisture in the air. It always scared him, he didn't know why he got that feeling, when he gets upset, it's a just a visible snow storm, like the one he found her in; but Rukia always melted, like she can no longer keep up that icy layer and is on the brink of collapse.

That's why he hated it whenever Byakuya was around to push her, to force her into a personality that didn't belong to her. He wanted to hold her together, to have enough coldness around him to shelter her, to block her from that awful heat of overwhelming pain.

_I didn't do a good enough job, did I?_Toshiro wondered to himself, _now I'm the one causing her pain; I'm the one causing her to melt into sadness. Damn it! I'm suppose to be stronger then that!_

If there is one battle Toshiro Hitsugaya will ever lose, it's a fight against the inner demons. He hasn't won a single fight against any of them, seeing as they are nearly impossible to fight off. He always congratulated himself on the fact Rukia had less attacks from her taunting inner demon since they've became friends. The guilt demon hasn't shown his ugly face in a while, but Aizen always had a way with words, and Toushirou hoped with all his heart Rukia won't fall for his cheap tricks.

_Hold on, Rukia, I'll bring you back no matter how much you hate me; you're going home in my arms._

* * *

Rukia, inside the throne room, wasn't having a better time then Toshiro. It wasn't just the fact that all four of her opponents have a bankai, stronger (taller, but no way in hell was Rukia ever gonna admit that), and with an endless supply of reitsu.

It's so stupid, Rukia grimaced as she receive yet another cut on her arm—that makes, well, too many to count now; Rukia just know it hurt, her whole body hurt, and that's not the end of her troubles. It comes in the form of mind.

The more Rukia fights, she found herself more and more consumed with fear and guilt. It's what Toshiro used to call her 'guilt demon' or 'inner demon'. He loved to poke fun at it, and as weird as it sounds, she loves it when he does. It takes her mind off things, if people ever calls her random, it was nothing compared to the effort Toshiro put in to help her. He charmed her, he had a quick wit and a pleasant sense of humor Rukia thoroughly appreciated.

And now he wasn't here to distract her, only an image of him, as powerful as Rukia remembered him, but only he wasn't the charming friend who gave her a peace of mind, it was a nightmare version.

Rukia knew where this Toshiro Hitsugaya came from—her lovely guilt demon. It's a present from him, the vision Rukia had always had and feared; it was a Toshiro Hitsugaya who stopped being so kind and nice to her. And quite frankly, Rukia knew the real Hitsugaya must be feeling the same as this nightmare, this nasty, walking nightmare. She had been so rude to him! Their friendship was over, and as far as Rukia knew, people don't do things for free; so why should the most powerful ice wielder continue to do _anything_ for her? Why should he be nice and kind to her?

She hadn't been paying that much attention to the other three, mainly because Aizen had realized Toshiro-replica's power over Rukia is a lot greater then those three combined. So he had stopped them advancing on her, only cutting in once in a while when Rukia wasn't getting cut enough from Toshiro.

Left, left, up, down, left… Rukia thought desperately to herself as she continues to block blows from the image of her ex-friend. He was powerful, and Rukia knew he never actually went all out on her. He was afraid of hurting her, not being able to stop in time. It infuriated Rukia, but it was sweet all the same; plus it was one of the few times he showed the weird 'soft' side of him. she always thought he had a funny was of showing he cares, a lot like her brother, actually; he wants to protect in the shadows, to help from behind the scenes. And of course, that's one of the reasons Rukia fell in love with him, it was near impossible to resist the soft side of him (with him desperately trying to act cold and tough, which works the opposite way).

Left, Rukia thought again; he had tried to teach her how to block from her blind spot and left hand side once, it ended with Rukia not able to write for nearly a day. He gave up after that, didn't want the paperwork to pile up. But he still tried to test her on her blind spot—something she finally learned after he gave her a pet instead of a blow. However, she left was still as weak as ever, and that stupid demon Hitsugaya Aizen conjured up seems to love it.

Up, right, up again, Rukia went for the left as she see the 'spirit's sword tip points that way. She drew her sword up to block it, there was nothing there to block. The petite girl felt like gasping as the shinning sword of the fake Toshiro sink though her right shoulder.

Her hand immediately let go of the sword; the blood poured down like a fountain. Rukia's entire body shook, it felt like the wound was being burned and freeze at the same time. The fake Toshiro had left the sword in her shoulder, which had pierced right through. It dangled half way though, covered in blood; half from being ran though her, half from the splash of her blood. The blade was cold, the wound was on fire; Rukia thought she knew what hell must feel like now.

There's a chuckle, which Rukia dimly thought was Gin. She's too tired now, her body felt like it was no longer with her; but it was nothing compared to how her heart felt, it was colder then Hitsugaya's blade now. The raven haired girl lost all hope as the silver sword sank into her. Run as she might, she cannot escape the truth. The truth Aizen had handed to her, disgusting as it might be, Rukia knew his bankai was right—Toshiro must hate her guts right now.

_There must be ice covering Toshiro's heart too,_Rukia thought as she felt her eyes close, the walls seems to be closing in on her, crushing the very air out of her lungs as she tried in vain to stay conscious. _He must be furious with me right now… I let down everyone. I'm a pathetic loser… damn it; I don't even have the power to destroy myself right now. _Rukia shivered as she felt a pair of hands on the back of her neck, jerking her upward painfully.

"Finally cracking, I see." Aizen's cold voice rang out at her, just as Rukia summons what little reitsu that wasn't completely sealed away. Aizen had tightened the seal, it was near impossible to break it now, let alone summon a kido strong enough to kill someone._I'm so stupid, why did I cling to life like that? What if I had destroyed myself when I heard what Aizen was planning to do? I could've saved soul society a lot of trouble! And… and he might've forgiven me…_

"No, I stopped any chance of your self destruction a long time ago." Aizen smiled his creepy smile. "So there really is no point in trying, Rukia-chan." He did something then, Rukia didn't know what as her eyes are now closed, the air tensed all around her.

Aizen's zanpaktou wrapped its boney, yet surprisingly strong grip around Rukia's injured shoulder, making her gasp in pain. But it was nothing compared to what she felt next—the moment Aizen's fingers touched the back of her neck, pain beyond what Rukia had ever felt—ever dreamed of shot through her body. It felt like millions of needles were stabbed at her, in between her muscles, through her bones, and in her blood. Her whole body was on fire, Rukia's scream left her lips without permission. Her back arched, she throw back her head as the pain intensified.

Rukia knew Aizen was muttering something just above her, but she could only hear a scream, her scream. She felt her body going limper; it was taking a strain on her whole body to simply stay conscious. Oh, how she longed to fall into that darkness just beyond the border of sanity, to escape this cage of pain…

She didn't even feel this, but her scream was indeed very loud, it rang throughout Aizen's palace, echoing off the walls.

And to hear Rukia Kuchiki scream like that was never before heard of; Ichigo and Hitsugaya stiffened as they recognize the scream, it couldn't be… could it?

And just behind them, was the three humans and the soul society rescue team—the official one, anyways. The four from 11th division, simply because Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yachiru and Kenpatchi was bored and wanted some fun; Matsumoto and Ukitake, since they're very worried, both for Rukia and the three captains ahead of them; and of course, the two sidekicks never far from Ukitake's side.

What puzzled them more, although less disturbing, was the fact that all of the arrancar who've been fighting and blocking them disappeared at once. Matsumoto panted, but immediately thought of her beloved Toshiro, he must be going nuts right now!

Ichigo blinked in the sudden absence of the espada he had been fighting, the same action was copied around him by the two other rescuers. Byakuya, as always, was the first to react; the three of them chased down the hall, to where the scream was coming from. With just one swing of his zanpaktou, Ichigo smashed open the door. Rocks flew through the air, dust and ash erupted from the debris.

In the very center of the hall, Aizen was holding Rukia's limp body by the neck with one hand, with his bankai holding her down; his other hand was hovering over the Hokyoku, which was now burning white hot under his palm.

"Oh, looks like we got company," Aizen smiled just as Rukia's scream faded away, it seems she's no longer conscious. "Too bad, Rukia-chan is already on her death bed, if we had a bed here, that is."

Toshiro took one step forward; his hand was trembling slightly as he focused on the limp form that was his friend. "R-Rukia?"

"Yes, this is Rukia Kuchiki, I've absorbed her reitsu, and as you all can see," he gestured towards the white hot sphere hovering under his hand, "I've gained full control over the Hokyoku. She is no longer useful to me, but I do want to go out of my way and kill her personally, it seriously irritates me that she had not died after my careful planning and my many arrancar attacks."

"YOU SICK BASTARD!" was all Ichigo could manage to shout as his eyes were too glued to the petite girl's body, which was fading fast.

"I assure you I am not sick, I am merely regrettable that I've not been able to kill off one little girl, not that I regret her living until I can find a use for her." Aizen paused for a second, feeling the almost overwhelming power coming from the three standing before him, each trying to take in the scene before them. "However, my bankai seems to have a better idea. And since I'm done with her for now, you can have this thing back."

And like he was throwing something thin and light (which Rukia actually is), the wavy haired man tossed the body of Rukia Kuchiki towards her three stunned rescuers.

Ichigo and Byakuya leaped into action, but Toushirou already had the girl of his dreams safely tucked in his arms. His face was pale, ghostly, as he looked down on the petite figure he was holding.

Instead of jumping for joy like he thought, Toshiro's inside was being squeezed; his heart felt like it was being pulled out of him by an invisible hand. Was he too late? No, there's a stir in her, feeble, but she still have one last strand of life left in her.

Byakuya opened the door to soul society in one swift motion. And barely waiting for the hell butterfly, Toushirou shunpo-ed though the gates. His heart racing, not only because he was moving faster then even Ichigo's bankai—looks like adrenaline can push a person to limits never thought possible.

_Please stay alive, at least so I can apologize to you in person…_

* * *

A/N: wow that took me quite a long time to write out, hopefully you guys aren't bored to death yet…

And like I said before, tomorrow school starts, and its junior year for me. So I'm not gonna to update anytime soon. Sorry, but I really can't help that.

Err, I will try to get something done around here, and if you haven't already, please check out my two other stories, Bonds of Blood and Thousand years of snow. I take requests for one shot, so it'll get updated faster then this one.

So please leave me a review, I'll write back to all of them! And yes, I take anonymous reviews!

Again, sorry, and have a blessed time until I come back! .


	8. Chapter 8 White Glass

First up, I apologize for not updaing in... how many years?

Sorry

Second, i would loke to apologize for the not my longest chapter, i know, i know, i really should provide the longest chapter considering how long this story's been on hold. i'll update again before the month is up, but i have to say that'll be my last update until august b/c i'll be leaving the country for a month and a half, and i'm not sure China allows me to get on this website. We'll see.

Third, this is a reminder to A Phoenix Tear that she needs to update as well, plus, HAPPY SUMMER! HOPE EVERYONE HAVE AN AMAZING, BRIILLIANT AND TOTALLY AWESOME SUMMER VACATION!

(and good luck on finals for those who still haven't started vacation yet)

So, i know this sounds so rude, but i'd love some feedback and reviews. even if you just feel like yelling at me for not updating for so long!

without further delay, here's chapter 8:

* * *

Hitsugaya shunpo-ed straight out of Aizen's white hall. Missing the group of 'official' rescuers that came crushing in seconds after he left.

Matsumoto rushes into the hall just in time to see Ichigo and Byakuya disappearing though the double doors; and without Rukia in sight, the rescue team sighed in relief, knowing Hitsugaya must have gotten her away.

That is, until Matsumoto locked eyes with the grinning Gin, who was standing on top of a mass of stones that was the door.

"Oh, Ran-chan! How very nice of you to drop in and see me!" Ichimaru said happily, and hoped down from the debris. He strolled towards the stunned blond female, "You must be so happy to see me, wanna stay for dinner? We were just giving Rukia-chan some tea, but Shiro-chan came in here and smashed everything." He pouted, pointing to the place where Aizen was holding his little 'welcome tea' for Rukia.

Matsumoto, on the other hand, was at a loss for words. And despite his annoyance that there's now no one to fight, Ikkaku quickly dragged the strawberry blond girl out of the hall. Where Yumichika had opened the door back to Seireitei.

"Bye, Ran-chan, come back and stays some time." Ichimaru grinned again and waved happily as Matsumoto was about to walk through the shoji doors with a black hell butterfly.

"Stay with a traitor like you?" Matsumoto let out a very un-Matsumoto like laugh, cold and merciless, which surprised even her. "Don't make me puke, Ichimaru." She spat out her former friend's name, turned on her heels and chased after her friends.

Gin sighed as if nothing had happened, "Oh well, Ran will come around."

* * *

Fourth division hadn't seen this much tension since… well, beyond anyone's memory or record.

And that includes the times when eleventh division was loaded into fourth division after Ichigo was through with them the first time he got to soul society as a ryoka.

_And_ the last time Rukia was in there, she's getting her own room now, since she has way too many visitors (Byakuya wasn't totally successful in keeping most of them out).

It was needless to say that Toushirou was in BIG trouble, it was taking quite a toll on Byakuya not to strangle him in public. But if he ever gets the chance at night, when Toushirou is all alone…

Ichigo was not in any better mood, he choose to sulk around Rukia's sickroom, muttering darkly while pacing alone outside the door. It drove many of the healers crazy to have him around, but most of them knew better to shoo him away when his muscles are tight with tension.

Ichigo was never allowed to be alone with Toushirou, in fear that the loud strawberry head might murder the other captain on the spot. Matsumoto and Ukitake could always be found somewhere close by, keeping a weary eye out for any sign of trouble.

And speaking of the white hair boy everyone wants to kill right now…

To say Toushirou was a mess would be the understatement of the year. The boy lost all signs of the former fierce ice dragon; instead he looked like a mud puddle. His spiky white hair seems to have lost all its shine and jaggedness, and they were messily swatted out of his face.

His once brilliant and intense eyes are no longer their usual teal; instead there's a sickly green smoke screen covering them, making those clear, ice blue orbs appear foggy and distant. Even Captain Unohana is at a loss as to what to do with him; Hanataro attended to the small captain, but is unable to get the beloved captain back to normal.

For the week Rukia did not open her eyes, Hitsugaya stood silently outsider her closed doors, staring at them, through them, with his big, soul less eyes. The very life seems to be sucked out of him as he gazed longingly and hopelessly at the paper doors, so easily chattered, but kept him from reaching his loved one. Anyone who takes one look at him can clearly tell he's at his wit's end; never before thought possible.

Of course, neither Ichigo nor Hitsugaya is allowed anywhere near Rukia. Byakuya had made sure of it; going as far as to confronting Captain Unohana personally. It didn't do any good that Captain Unohana is now a fan of Hitsugaya and Rukia, but after a silent-tension filled exchange, Captain Unohana gave in. Thank goodness no one was dumb enough to mention this rather popular pairing (poll result provided by your very own women's association) to the quietly fuming Byakuya.

Rukia took a week to fully wake up, but Unohana taichou put her to sleep for another week before letting anyone talk to her. First was family, Byakuya stayed for just a few moments, exchanged a few fleeting words with Rukia before rushing out.

The second group was Matsumoto, Nanao, and the joy twins from thirteenth division; they caused more rackets then Fourth Division enjoyed, but they were better then Ichigo, who was the third group.

Ichigo were suppose to be the second group, but all he have to say is 'that idiot' or 'stupid midget', Unohana taichou wisely decided to provoke Rukia wasn't healthy for her, so she kept him back and gave Ichigo a 'lecture' of sorts, and he came out very behaved indeed. And for the first time in anyone's memory, Ichigo visited Rukia in the hospital without being thrown out by Byakuya or Unohana Taichou.

Yes, you heard right, the infamous noisemaker acted the way a friend should behave when visiting a very sick friend. Ichigo actually had a sorrow face on when he entered the sickroom. And perhaps it was due to this extraordinary display of consideration was Toushirou Hitsugaya, the 'jerk of the week', was allowed to visit Rukia after SoiFon extracted all the details from her 'visit' to Hueco Mundo.

Stepping into the threshold of Rukia's sickroom, Toushirou's face was greeted by a pillow, thrown by Rukia Kuchiki herself. She was in a trance of this quiet fury, the anger was like tongues of roaring flames burning white hot, Toushirou swallowed at the menacing look in those deep amethyst eyes.

"Feeling better, Rukia?" Toshiro asked, trying his crooked grin, but failed miserably.

"Loads better now without you stabbing Me." came the hard retort.

Toushirou tried a dry laugh, but quickly shut up when he saw the look on Rukia's face. "Sorry, I was wrong, you were right, feel free to rub it in;" he chuckled, "Announce to the world you bested me… I'm sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you, I know it's not enough, I'm a horrible person, I should be crucified, but I really want a chance to regain your favor." He finished timidly.

Rukia rolled her eyes, and for a person who's been so badly hurt, she sure moves fast. With a quick shunpo, Rukia slid past Toushirou and out the door, disappearing before the poor little captain realized the person he was talking to had ditched.

"Hey, you're not supposed to leave bed!" Toushirou snapped before giving chase, its remarkable how good Rukia is at pulling a disappearance act on people when she wanted to. Toushirou doubted she even bothered to use kido to mask herself, but her reitsu was suppressed so low the boy genius can't pinpoint her location. Needless to say, Rukia wasn't going to answer his calls as Toshiro ran through the small forest behind fourth division. The once secret meeting spot of theirs seems so good when it could hide them from Byakuya's hawk like eyes; it now proved to be a great inconvenience, _who plants a forest behind the hospital? It's just a soap drama between angst lovers waiting to happen! Wait, since when are we lovers?!_ Toushirou mentally slapped his head as he kept a brisk walk through the thick wood.

"Ru-Ki-Aaaa!" Toshiro stretched out each syllables of Rukia's name, hoping she would get annoyed; it'll be good even if she jumps out and slap him right now. If Unohana Taichou realized one of her patient had disappeared, mainly due to his annoyance… the young captain shuddered at the very thought, this is why they say ignoring a doctor's orders can be dangerous.

The boy genius wasn't used to finding people, having mastered the art of reading reitsu at a very young age; Toushirou Hitsugaya was frustrated after unable to find Rukia for ten long minutes. _Damn, where did that girl go? And why the hell did I teach her those master disappearance stunts? They were reserved for hiding from Matsumoto's party invitation only!_ Toushirou thought miserably to himself as he scanned the thick green leaves and massive tree trunks again and again with those bright teal eyes.

Taking a sharp turn that would lead him eastward and towards the clearing they use to picnic on. He wasn't disappointed either; the faint note of her reitsu became sharper as he bounced forward. Then bursts of energy from unknown sources that seem awfully close to her nearly made his heart stop: he may not know who those reitsu belong to, but they felt strong and alarming. A burst from Rukia, now he can pinpoint her perfectly, _what's she doing with all those strong reitsu surrounding her?_

As he neared Rukia, Toushirou decide to slow down and conceal himself more fully. Whoever they were, if they lay even one finger on Rukia, there would be a frozen hell to pay. She wasn't in the clearing, but just outside it on the opposite side from him. From where he stood, Hitsugaya could make out at least five or six bulky shinigamies who seems to be from 11th division. Cursing silently, Hitsugaya decided to go around the clearing so he wouldn't be seen when he jumps those men. Rukia seems to be arguing with some of them, and Hitsugaya inwardly groaned. Rukia's beauty and grace, her natural elegance and charm is bound to attract attention from men; those nasty looking thugs can't be thinking of anything good.

He's just fifty feet away from the brutes and Rukia now, a distance he can easily cross in under a second using shunpo. There were a total of four men, if it's the healthy Rukia; it would take just one kido blast from her to finish all four of them off. Hitsugaya knows Rukia would hate him if he tried to intervene, especially if she's under the impression that she's perfectly fine and healthy, and she tend to think that no matter how badly hurt she had been just days ago. It would be very unwise if he were to step in now, Rukia might bite his head off, more importantly, she might never gave him her time of day again.

Debating between cutting in and help or staying where he is and hope Rukia can handle those four thugs; Toshiro decides to let Rukia handle it first, and if the time calls for it, come in as prince charming, no matter how much that might annoy Rukia.

Stepping even closer, Hitsugaya can now hear the conversation perfectly, standing just forty feet away.

"Back off, you slimy little worms," Rukia's cold voice rang out, carelessly tossing back a strand of loose hair.

"Now, now little girl," one of the men with his back to Hitsugaya said in a rough voice pretending to be sweet. "Play with us, there's no point resisting, you're a criminal, the whole soul society knows that, you're hurt, and there's no one around. I advice you to listen—

"Who're _you_ calling a 'little girl'?" Rukia snapped impatiently, her icy voice sending chills down the four men's spine. Hitsugaya smirked, calling Rukia a 'little girl' when her temper was already limited is a very unwise move indeed.

One of the men reached out to grope Rukia, and she reacted like lightening. With a loud snap, the men's wrist was probably fractured to little pieces. The other three men closed in on her, a second later one of them were tied with his hands behind his back with a kido spell. Unfortunately, the time it took for Rukia to summon that binding spell was enough for the two remaining thugs to bind her, one of them had her arms pinned behind her back with one hand, while the other reached out to her kimono tie.

The next thing any of the four men saw was probably a white blur before they were knocked out cold in a flash. Never had Toushirou move so fast, in a fraction of a second, he had sent all four men flying towards the nearby tree truck.

"Hey," Toshiro murmured softly as Rukia took in deep breaths and calmed her fast beating heart. She wasn't even sure if her accelerated heartbeat was due to almost being raped, or because Toshiro came to such a timely rescue and now held her so tenderly.

"T-thanks." the petite girl stammered out, blinking her huge bluish-purple eyes. She took in another deep breath, "I'm sorry."

Now it's Toushirou's time to stammer, "W-what? What can you be sorry about?" the unexpected apology had completely knocked Toushirou out of his cool and collected façade.

"For being an idiot; running away when you were talking, getting myself into trouble and you have to come and rescue me, twice." Her slender eyebrows came together for a moment at the reminder of her imprisonment in Hueco Mundo.

Hitsugaya winced at the mention of the 'trouble' she caused. They were purely because of him, because of his weakness and because of his stubbornness. "You have nothing to be sorry about, okay?" Toshiro murmured softly into her ear, still keeping her body tightly wrapped within his strong, muscular arms. "It was entirely my fault, so blame me, and just promise me you won't think like a scapegoat again, it make you sound… emo."

It got the reaction he wanted, Rukia did the immature thing of stamping on his foot and crossing her arms irritably. Looking like the stubborn warrior princess he loves so much. "It wasn't _entirely_ your fault; it's shameful that I wasn't able to avoid such an easy blow." Rukia huffed angrily, "Can't believe I actually let you get to me, must've let my guard down too much. Anyways, you're forgiven; we were both at fault, so we're even?" she offered a sweet little smirk, half melting Hitsugaya's heart.

"I can't be forgiven this easily! I hate to admit it, but I'm an idiot, and I know I'll do something wrong again soon enough." Admitting that he was an idiot is no small feat for Toshiro Hitsugaya, Rukia would've chocked if she had anything in her mouth. Toshiro shook his head in defeat, might as well make her happy, since his pride ship has long sailed. "So I'm on probation, I swear I'll do better next time, I'll listen to you more, and I won't be such a stubborn big head. So Rukia Kuchiki, will you please give me a second chance to be your best friend again?"

Rukia responded by hugging him very, very close. "I said you're forgiven, you're forgiven. I'm sorry for the mean things I said, we're always best friends." She pulled back and flashed a radiant smile at Hitsugaya, making the love sick boy's heart leap for joy. "I promise."

The time is perfect, Toushirou swallowed hard, this is even harder then admitting he's an idiot. "So, there's a secret I've been hiding, and no matter what, please don't hate me or stop talking to me, promise?"

"Of course, cross my heart and hope to die." Rukia drew an 'X' over her chest.

"Err, I'd rather you stop talking to me then for you to die. But the point is," he swallowed again, "I like you Rukia, well, it's more like I love you very, very much in a romantic way."

Pause.

"Well, that was the best and worst confession I've ever heard." Rukia rolled her eyes to hide her shock, _wait, Toshiro like her too? Then that means…_

"What? It took a lot of courage you know!" Toshiro snapped, forgetting she was supposed to have a different response. "And you had other confessions before?"

"That's why I said it was the best, but the bluntness, that's what makes it the worst." Rukia said matter-of-factly, "and of course I had other confessions, ranging from co-workers to creeps I've never met before, the only one that was worse then yours it probably Ichigo's, he just came up and kissed me!"

Poor Shiro, it's safe to say he was in quite a bit of shock and tried in vain to get rid of the _'murder all her admires_' thought from his head.

"As for a response for your _'lovely'_ confession— Rukia stood on tip toes and kissed him timidly on the lips. Teal green eyes widened for a split second before shining with happiness, large tanned hands wrapped around Rukia's thin waist, pulling her in closer. His tongue slipped between her slightly parted lips, tracing them before sliding in further, tickling her with sparks of joy. If it had been one of those Disney movies, birds would be singing, animals would be dancing, and mysterious fireworks would fire off in the back ground.

Without singing birds, dancing animals, and mysterious fireworks that fire off from nowhere, the two of them took a long time to separate. Rukia blushing madly and Toshiro grinning like an idiot; wait, he just admitted to being an idiot, so that's not news. Rukai muttered darkly under her breath, "Cut the Disney princess scene out."

The two of them walked back towards Fourth Division, fearing Captain Unohana might've already noticed her missing, and most importantly guarded, patient. He kept his arm wrapped around her waist the entire time, and when she protested it was too hot out. Toshiro dismissed it with a wave of his hands.

"I'm sorry, but this is one of my idiotic moments. You'll probably hate it, but I'm afraid I have to be a protective and possessive boyfriend; it makes my head hurt trying to imagine how many admires you have… not to mention those four creeps knocked out over there." Toshiro stated in a 'take it or leave it' kinda voice.

Rolling her eyes at his immaturity, but secretly pleased, Rukia let him steer her back to her room. Where the four thugs became their excuse for coming back so late; a few people smirked knowingly at the way Toshiro hovered protectively over Rukia. Capitan Unohana smiled gently, and decided to buy their story.

The one having most fun would be Matsumoto; she had waited for ages for her captain to finally obtain Rukia as a girlfriend, or really, any female other then Hinamori as a girlfriend. The pairing was utterly adorable to her, and corrupting away their innocence with 'slight' teasing was really more fun then even Matsumoto had imagined; the way those two blushed whenever Matsumoto suggested something naughty; the way Hitsugaya would stuff Rukia's ears whenever he thought Matsumoto was being Matsumoto (aka, immature); it gave her great pleasure to taunt them with her ideas of fun. That is, until Byakuya had enough and stepped in to protect his precious baby sister's pure and innocent mind.

But not even Matsumoto can enjoy the pure bliss Hitsugaya and Rukia now shared. Toshiro was rarely seen steps away from her, which annoyed both Byakuya and Ichigo; though neither one of them would team up with the other for anything. And Rukia will resume her position as Hitsugaya's lieutenant; it made certain people want to strange… someone.

However, they had other things to worry about, like Aizen's bankai, Aizen's power, Aizen's army, Aizen's plans… just to name a few.

* * *

"So how do you defeat someone who's pure fear?" Matsumoto asked anxiously, one captain meeting late on the Monday Rukia returned to work, three weeks after she was rescued. They were all sitting rather closely, so they can see the diagram SoiFon had drawn up (they didn't trust Rukia's artistic abilities, so SoiFon drew up the pictures while Rukia described them, much to Rukia's annoyance).

"Wow, so he's just like that monster thingy from Harry Potter! That… oh what was it called? You know that thing that sucked happiness out of people?" Ichigo claimed excitedly, and of course he was utterly ignored.

"Light a fire?" Ikkaku suggested.

"And just how do you propose we set fire to an illusion? We don't even know if that stupid monster is sensitive to light and I'll bet you anything Aizen's stupid bankai can use shunpo." Hitsugaya snapped heatedly.

Ikkaku wisely decided to swallow whatever he was about to throw at Hitsugaya, seeing his temper was not to be tested, especially when it concerns his precious little butterfly. A few others sweat dropped and Captain Ukitake motioned for Rukia to calm him down.

"Okay, how's this for a theory? Aizen cannot be invincible, we burn him up." Ichigo offered.

"You really are stupid." Hitsugaya half sneered at the orange head. "We tried that once already, remember? The head captain made a burning wall around him and he's still out there! If we can get our hands on him, I'll skin him alive and sent him to burn eternally in Hell!"

"Point taken." SoiFon breathed; annoyed she was stuck with this bunch of hot heads and idiots. "I want to know how we're going to go about it. Rukia brought back very, very valuable information. For the first time ever, we actually know what form Aizen's bankai take and how now we're trying to figure out how we're going to stop him. So shut up all of you morons and focus!" SoiFon slammed her tea cup down, breaking the china in her anger.

"We're not using Rukia as bait!" Hitsugaya replied at once.

SoiFon was barely controlling her anger by now. "Did you hear me say that? She's not going anywhere if Captain Unohana has her way."

"Good." Hitsugaya was satisfied.

"No, not good!" Rukia finally cut in, "what do you think I'll be doing? Sitting on the couch and reading women magazines?"

A few snickered, it's hard to imagine Rukia of all people lying lazily on the couch like Matsumoto and reading fashion or cooking magazines.

"Feel free to the mountains of paperwork in the office." Hitsugaya smirked at her, as long as she's off the battlefield, Hitsugaya guess he can take a little paper cut to his precious little one.

Rukia gasped in indignation "You managed just fine when Matsumoto was your lieutenant. It was war-time and you took over fifth division's work!"

"Yeah, and you spoiled me, the lunch, the tea, the paperwork free desktop… it's your own making, not mine." Hitsugaya was fully grinning now, making Rukia even madder. "As the B.F. "Big Forehead" Skinner said, people have no free will; we're simply the consequences of past events that happened to us."

Rukia leap up, "Okay, little genius, two can play that game." She smiled evilly, "According to E.L. Thorndike's Law of Effect, things that lead to good conscience will be repeated and bad conscience will be stopped. If I break up with you right now, you'll shut up for once."

Everyone gasped, but Hitsugaya kept his annoying smirk on, "Oh, you wouldn't do that, you love me too much. I know you too well."

Rukia slammed the binder she was holding down at Hitsugaya's feet. "Then you should also know I hate being manipulated, you're not the boss of me. I don't care what power you have over other women, go pick one of them if you want obedience. But if you want us to work out, you let me make the decisions for myself, and know where to draw the line."

Then the burning violet eyes closed, Rukia whipped around and marched out; slamming the double door behind her.

Silence

Then Ichigo smiled uncertainly, holding up a plate of cookies. "If she just want you to shut up, you can try one of the cookies I made."

"Why, what's wrong with them?" Matsumoto eyed the plate wearily; fearing poison might go out any second.

"I'm not the best baker out there, and when I tried Rukia's double chocolate chip cookie recipe. We ran out of sugar in the kitchen, so I used the bubble gum I had in my pocket instead." Ichigo grinned like a five year old.

"Ewww," almost everyone made disgusted face, even Ikkaku took back the out stretched hand he was going to grab a cookie with.

"What? You get the great taste of Rukia's famous double chocolate chip cookie and strawberry bubble gum in one taste!" Ichigo protested.

"That is so gross," Matsumoto took the plate from Ichigo and dumped the content into the garbage can. "Please don't try baking again; and why do you have strawberry flavored bubble gum in your pocket?"

"Cuz he's a berry head!" Ikkaku hooted happily. And the meeting that was dead serious just moments ago broke into a pool of laughter. Hitsugaya looked half annoyed, half frustrated by the constant interruption, after all, and they were talking about his precious, darling Rukia! Doesn't anyone understand how important she is? Doesn't anyone realize that there's going to be blood spilled if they don't take his most perfect, most prized Rukia seriously?

"SHUT IT!" Hitsugaya roared angrily, and once again the room fell into an eerie silence. "Ichigo, if you ever try baking again, I'll personally escort you to prison. Your baking, or just your cooking in gereral, should be considered terriorism." Ichigo glared, bu Hitsugaya had already turned his attention away from him. "Now, I want some insight, what in the world is Aizen planning? He has never showned us his bankai, and now all of a sudden he lets the whole world sees it? It's either still his shika, and he got Rukia with it, or he's up to something big. Think, not even Aizen can be that good an actor; he must've let some small clue get out while he was among us. Recall every detail you got on him."

Everybody became somber and even Matsumoto was deep in thought as she tried to do as her former taichou asked. No one spoke for a while, until Ikkaku, of all people said aloud, "You know, I wonder what Aizen wanted from Hinamori…" and when half the room turned to glare at him for bring Hinamori up again, he quickly added, "Well, it's weird, isn't it? As far as I can see, Hinamori's never actaully done anything for Aizen but to feed to his ego, and manipulate Captain Hitsugaya. And I know the guy's a sadistic psychopath and all, but just for messing with Hitsugaya's head, he put Hinamori that close to him?"

Pause,

Quite a few people mentally hit themselves for not noticing something like this earlier, and suddenly the room was buzzing with conversation again as people turned on their seats to disscuss it with their neighbors. SoiFon said quite mercelessly, "You know, and that girl looks too much like Rukia for my comfort. I wonder…" when everyone turned to look at the normally silent special ops leader, she further explained, "well, could it be that Aizen origionally learned that someone who looked like Rukia had the break-down sphere, and went for Hinamori? Rukia entered the shinigami academy below the age limit, she's actually younger than Hitsugaya, well, as far back as she could remember, anyways. Aizen might've thought Hinamori had the sphere, but found out she didn't once he got close to her. But transfering her out was too risky, it raises questions, so he waited and bited his time. Only he found another use for her, distracting captain Hitsugaya."

Qutie a few people could swear that was the longest sentence they had ever hear SoiFon utter, but at the moment they couldn't care less as this new insight let to another burst of talking. Hitsugaya was just feeling anxious when the door burst open and Rukia came back in, looking rushed.

"Hey, I'm sorry---"

Before Hitsugaya could finish what could be the first time he apologized in years, Rukia cut him off in a hurry. "Listen, I just remember something, that godforsaken place doesn't have natural sunlight."

When everyone looked at her, confused, Rukia sighed, fustrated, "No natural sunlight means there's no food! The hollows don't need to eat food, and it's just a layer of sand on top of a dead forest. You can't grow food there! Whatever super power Aizen's got, he's still a shinigami with spirit powers, which means he needs to eat. Where's the water and food coming from? He offered me English tea! I swear I could smell the Tibeti and Assam, or was it Kenyan? Never mind, point is, Aizen's got to have gotten that food from somewhere. Orihime said they fed her when she was imprisoned there! We've never found all those trips from Hueco Mundo, and I've never heard of a hollow robbing a grocery store."

Hitsugaya's mind was working at super speed as he considered what Rukia just said, "Then there must be a secret passage, either to the human world or to soul society, one that we can't detect. But how…"

Nodded wisely, Byakuya, who had been silent this whole time, instructed his men to get started on the paperwork necessary to conduct a search inside high security places if need arrives. SoiFon was already instructing several black hellbutterflies to look through records of unusual activity.

Hitsugay put a hand on Rukia's shoulder and guided her back to the break room (aka Matsumoto's former favorite room) in tenth division, and gently sat her down. "You still needs to rest, you may argue it out of me, but if you don't catch a nap right now, I'm taking it up to the almight—Unohana."

Rukia glared, she was not happy being treated like a child, and even more unhappy to be threateded. Payback's a bitch, she thought. But nevertheless went to grab a cat nap. She was tired, and the prospect of answering to Unohana was not one she welcomed.

Putting a blanket on her soft, sleeping form, Hitsugaya sighed heavily before going to work. There were leads to follow and records to match, if he wants his baby girl to be safe from harm, he needs to put forth his best.

* * *

Aizen watched through a glass box as Hitsugaya left the break room, the soft red blanket covering Rukia rose up and down with her even breathing. With one finger, he tapped the glass box once again and the image disappeared, leaving an empy box on top a white pillor.

"Sneaking up on me again, Gin?" Aizen asked, almost pleasantly.

A man with a snake/ fox like face stepped out of the shadow, "just wondering how our pretty little princess is doing, that's all."

* * *

So with your blessing, i hope i get some goody reviews, feel free to scream at me for not updating, i know, i'm a jerk. and it's kinda a cliffy... *angry readers come up and punch Kimi*

and as always, you sign in and review, i'll always get back to you.

and due to the fact that i haven't been able to finish this before the promised time, this chapter wasn't beta read by the lovely Saint Sky taichou. i'll do better next time, promise

click on the review button and give me a piece of your mind! (they say a penny for your thought, i don't have a penny, so how about an update??)


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